The mother of a soldier in northeastern Thailand who was beaten to death in a military camp has filed a civil lawsuit against the Royal Thai Army.
At the Civil Court on Ratchadapisek Road in Bangkok on 9 March 2017, Boonrueang Suthiraphan, the mother of Corporal Krittikon Suthiraphan, 25, filed the civil lawsuit against the Royal Thai Army.
Her son died in the military prison of Weerawat Yothin Army Camp in Surin Province on 21 February 2016. He was imprisoned after he was accused of assisting other detainees in the military prison to flee.
Boonrueang accused the army of violating the 1996 Act on Liability for Wrongful Acts of Officials. She demands the Thai army to compensate her for Krittikon’s death.
After her son’s death, with the help from the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF), a human rights advocacy group, Boonrueang requested the court to hold a pre-indictment witness hearing on the case in accordance with Article 150 of the Criminal Procedure Code as the late corporal died from unnatural causes.
At the hearing, Naruephon Kittikunakon, a doctor from Surin Provincial Hospital who performed the forensic examination on Krittikon’s body, said he was found dead in the military prison with his feet chained.
The examination shows that the body had been beaten by hard objects and the soldier died from serious head injuries and a ruptured stomach, added the doctor.
The mother of the late soldier said at the hearing that she attempted to bail her late son while he was detained in the military prison, but the bail request was denied.
She testified that she also tried to visit Krittikon many times, but the authorities denied her requests and prevented her from making any contact with the soldier, citing military prison rules.
According to Pol Lt Col Ratchapon Kliang-uttha, the investigator of the case, military sources indicated that four detainees of the military prison in Weerawat Yothin Army Camp are prime suspects in the beating.