Jobi, an undocumented ethnic Karen peasant who resided in a remote part of Kanchanaburi, had been charged with riddling a school bus full of students with an M16 automatic rifle.

Jobi initially confessed to the killings but later retracted his statement as questions and doubts began to mount.

Parents of the school children, as well as the local community, accused the police of trying to close the murder case at the expense of the truth. They also called on the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) to investigate a local police officer who they believed concocted the confession in order to close the case.

Jobi told reporters he was forced by a gang of people who smuggled endangered forest animals to confess to the crime - or they would kill him along with his wife and children.

He said the police had also promised that he would be freed if and when he confessed to the killings.

A Ratchaburi provincial court acquitted him of murder in March 2004. The decision came after he had spent more than a year in jail on charges of illegal entry.

During his detention, Jobi became ill in what appeared to be an attempt to poison him.

The plight of this stateless peasant prompted Her Majesty the Queen to take the him under a royal medical care sponsorship.

The Law Society of Thailand also lent assistant in trying to obtain Thai citizenship for him.