Environmental activist Sutthi Atchasai, died yesterday morning following what his family believes was a suicide at his home in Rayong’s Muang district. He was 38.
Sutthi: Reports of stress and debt
His mother Chin Atchasai, 74, said she saw Sutthi on Tuesday evening briefly before he went to sit in his pickup truck in the garage.
After hearing several gunshots, she found her son with a bullet wound to the head and a .38 revolver in his hand.He was rushed to Rayong Hospital and declared dead at 3am.His mother ruled out murder, saying she believed her son killed himself due to stress.
Pol Col Kiti Sirikhot, the investigative officer at Rayong police station, said a bullet entered Sutthi’s right temple. Police also found three bullet holes in the windshield of his pickup.
Police have yet to officially conclude the incident was a suicide, said Pol Col Kiti, as investigators still need information from the family.
Sutthi led many environmental protests in his province, most famously against the construction of a power plant.
He had disappeared from the activist scene in recent years. Former senator Somchai Sawaengkarn, who worked with Sutthi on a number of campaigns, said yesterday he had been told the activist had accumulated work-related debts and mortgaged his family’s land.
Writing on his Facebook page, he said Sutthi was under pressure from influential figures which had “prohibited” his activism.