No justice for the family of a conscript beaten to death

No justice for the family of a conscript beaten to death

Four years have passed since military officers fatally assaulted Wichian Phuaksom, but his grieving relatives are still waiting for their day in court.

Just over a week ago, Narissarawan Keawnopparat, 24, decided to make public the gruesome photos of her late uncle Private Wichian Phuaksom’s body. Her social media post went viral and reignited interest in the landmark case, as prosecutors decide whether to proceed with criminal trials in the months ahead.

Boot camp: Army conscripts are put through rigorous training and pushed to the limit to improve their fitness and other skills to meet the standards required by the Royal Thai Army.

Wichian, a young army conscript, was beaten to death by officers at a military training camp in Narathiwat in 2011. His killing sparked national debate about the merits of conscription. For his family, it prompted a quest for justice that continues to this day.

In May 2011, 26-year-old Wichian made two attempts to escape from Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Military Camp.

According to witnesses, mostly fellow privates, the training seemed unbearable for the young man, who had left the monkhood only a month before being drafted.

Happier times: Wichian Phuaksom had been in the monkhood for eight years before joining the armed forces.

His last attempt to run away was on May 29. On June 1, Wichian was returned to the camp by the local village chief. The chief feared criminal charges for assisting a runaway soldier, since the province was under a state of emergency.
On June 4, Wichian’s relatives in Songkhla province received a phone call from a family friend who just happened to spot him in the ICU ward of Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Hospital.

When the family arrived at the hospital, they barely recognised him.

“He was a very small and lean man, but my grandmother said he was so big when she saw him lying unconscious there,” Ms Narissarawan said. “My grandmother couldn’t bring herself to believe that body was her son until he passed away at 11pm on June 5, 2011.”

A THOUSAND WORDS

The photos were taken 23 hours after his death, but many who see the images say they look as though his lifeless body had been lying around for months.

They show Wichian covered in black and blue bruises. His legs are particularly badly damaged, with skin peeling off. The upper part of his chest is strangely white compared to the rest of his body, as though the torturers intentionally skipped it. His testicles are bruised and swollen, and five or six holes appear on each leg, as if pierced with sharp nails.

Ms Narissarawan decided to publicise the photos because she and her grandmother, Wichian’s 64-year-old mother Pratueng, are still waiting for justice in a criminal court, despite winning a civil case last year.

In July, the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) forwarded their findings on the case to criminal prosecutors in Narathiwat. The PACC report accuses 10 men of misbehaving while on civil duty, citing article 157 of the criminal code. The first lieutenant, second lieutenant, three sergeants and five privates are also accused of breaking articles 30 and 80 of the military criminal code.

Wichian’s family had been expecting the 10 men to be accused of physical assault resulting in death, but were disappointed. They made an inquiry to the PACC and were told prosecutors must decide on whether to file that charge. They now fear the suspects will be let off easy and are calling for the 10 to be charged with manslaughter under article 290 of the criminal code.

“The first lieutenant was present and gave the order for Wichian to be tortured in front of 200 privates at the camp. Now he is about to be promoted and we want justice to be served so that no other private ever has to face the same fate as Wichian,” Ms Narissarawan said.

MADE TO ‘REPENT’

After Wichian’s death, the Fourth Army Region launched their own investigation into the matter, with disturbing results.

A Defence Ministry document issued on July 5, 2011, shows that Wichian left the monkhood on April 1 that year and enrolled in the army unit on May 1.

According to the army investigation, Wichian was physically abused on June 1 and 2, as punishment for running away from the camp on May 9 and May 29.

Shortly before noon on June 1, after the young conscript had been returned to the base by the village chief, a second lieutenant said he slapped Wichian’s face twice to “make him repent”. He then made him eat chilli, followed by a dish of cooked rice.

At 12.40pm, he ordered two assistant trainers to take Wichian to the training ground, were he was instructed to carry out several exercises. Wichian was fully dressed at first. He was then told to strip down to his underwear. The second lieutenant was present the entire time.

After the exercise session, Wichian was taken to be reprimanded by the first lieutenant at the camp’s headquarters. The first lieutenant gave the order for Wichian’s punishment to continue.

As Wichian left the headquarters, witnesses spoke of seeing the two training assistants drag him across the concrete yard by his legs. His screams could be heard as his back scraped the ground.

HOURS OF TORTURE

As Wichian was subjected to more “exercise training”, a second lieutenant walked by and saw the two training assistants kicking the private’s legs and torso. He warned them not to injure the upper part of Wichian’s body.

Fighting: Wichian’s niece Narissarawan Keawnopparat posted shocking photos of his battered and bruised body on social media which went viral, reigniting interest in the case.

The pair of training assistants were later seen applying salt to Wichian’s wounds and stamping on his chest.

Two hours passed before Wichian was taken to the camp’s medical room, where he was bathed and given treatment, before being laid out to rest on a bed.

But the brutality continued. One non-commissioned officer told the official investigation that Wichian was then kicked in the head by three sergeants and two corporals. All of them wore combat boots. The second lieutenant sat on a neighbouring bed and watched.    

At 5.45pm, it was time for dinner. The sergeant ordered five or six newly conscripted privates to carry Wichian from the nursing ward to the canteen. They were ordered to wrap him in white cloth and bind his hands with incense sticks and candles, as if he were ready for his own funeral. At the canteen, witnesses recalled Wichian being ordered to sit on a bed of ice, wearing nothing but his underwear.

During the meal, the first lieutenant walked up to Wichian and told the second lieutenant to put ice on his wounds and give him a few garlic cloves. Shortly after, the same officers carried Wichian out to the training ground again. This time a large slab of ice was placed on his chest.

At 6.45pm, Wichian was told he must exercise some more. He was too slow, and his trainers were unhappy.

They brought out a bamboo stick and proceeded to whip hit his back, torso and legs, from his buttocks to his heels. He was then kicked to the ground.

Witnesses said Wichian bowed down at the sergeant’s feet and begged: “I’m in pain now. I won’t do it again.”

The army document says the abuse went on until 1am on June 2. He was again taken to the camp medical facility on June 2, where the beatings continued.

He was finally sent to hospital on June 3 and died of kidney failure as a result of his wounds on June 5.

BEHIND THE BARRACKS

Ms Narissarawan said the results of the official investigation into Wichian’s death have been accepted by the family.

Transparency is rare behind the walls of any army barracks, and was even more hard won given the state of emergency in place in Narathiwat since 2004, when firearms were stolen from the same military camp in an incident blamed for reigniting violence in the South.

Army officers from the Defence Ministry were sent from Bangkok to the Narathiwat camp for the investigation and were in contact with the family throughout.

“My uncle was tortured in front of 200 witnesses, all newly drafted conscripts,” said Ms Narissarawan, whose mother was Wichian’s elder sister. “But at first, all of them told the investigation committee they knew nothing and saw nothing.

“It took the committee weeks to have one-on-one sessions with each of the 200 conscripts until they could reconstruct the events.”

Security measures remain tight at the camp. “One of the committee members told me that he was told he must always leave through a different gate to the one he entered. He wasn’t even familiar with the level of security before he went there.”

Immediately after Wichian’s death, the family filed a complaint at Cho Airong police station. It took two months before the police were able to get full cooperation from the military camp. It was only after central investigators were sent from police headquarters in Bangkok that officers were able to name nine suspects — excluding the first lieutenant — for physical assault resulting in death.

CLOSING RANKS

After enduring almost two days of incessant beating and kicking, Wichian was sent to Cho Airong Hospital on June 3. One army officer had raised the alarm that he was at risk of dying. When he reached the hospital, he was still conscious and was able to tell the medical personnel what he had been subjected to.

Some of the army officers who followed Wichian to hospital told medics that his injuries were a result of accidents. They were informed that Wichian would be transferred to the better-equipped Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Hospital. The officers protested and said he should be transferred back to the camp’s medical facility. The doctor declined.

“Wichian specifically told the doctor that it was the first lieutenant who gave the order for his punishment,” Ms Narissarawan said.

The family friend called to say Wichian was in intensive care on the evening of June 4. Because of the curfew at the time, they were unable to visit him until the next morning, on June 5. He died that evening.

The hospital cited “kidney failure caused by serious wounds” on Wichian’s death certificate.

The family did not know at the time that forensics could have been carried out on his body if they had asked.

Wichian’s mother recalled that when her son ran away from the camp the first time, an army >>
>> officer phoned her to ask whether he had come home. He hadn’t done, so she replied no.

When the family friend called her to say Wichian was in the ICU on the evening of June 4, she wondered why no army officer had notified her. She called the officer who phoned her the first time and asked about her son. He said Wichian was fine and in the army camp.

“We didn’t know forensics could have been done on the body,” Ms Narissarawan said. “But we doubted that his injuries were caused by an accident, since the army officer had tried to hide the fact Wichian was in hospital.”

A number of army officers were present when Wichian died and offered to proceed with the necessary documentation. Ms Narissarawan said the doctor was standing behind the soldiers and shook his head quietly to the family members, signalling that they should decline.

BRIBES AND INTIMIDATION

Wichian’s body was taken for a funeral in his home town in Songkhla’s Ranot district. The first lieutenant, who gave the order for Wichian to be tortured, attended the funeral and offered to carry out the usual military honours for a dead soldier, involving a national flag being placed on the coffin and a royally-bestowed cremation.

The family turned down his offer. “We didn’t believe he died on duty,” Ms Narissarawan said. “He died because he was beaten.”

During and after the funeral, Wichian’s family received a number of threats. “Several men in the village came to my grandmother to discuss terms with her, saying things like, ‘You’d better take the money unless you want to be dead like him’, or asking whether she wanted three million in cash.

“During the funeral, someone sent us an incense stick envelope filled with bullets.”

But the intimidation has not deterred Ms Narissarawan, who is acting on behalf of her grandmother, mother and two uncles, from pursuing justice for Wichian.

After the results of the army’s investigation were released, the Fourth Army Region gave the family 500,000 baht compensation. The family stipulated they would only take the money if it came out of the salaries of Wichian’s attackers.

The family also decided to pursue a civil court case against the Ministry of Defence, the Royal Thai Army and the Internal Security Operations Command. They won that case last year, with the court ruling they be paid 7,049,213 baht in compensation, minus the 500,000 baht already allocated.

Ms Narissarawan said the family has no wish to be compensated by taxpayer money, and only want Wichian’s torturers to pay.

FIGHTING THE SYSTEM

After Wichian’s death, Ms Narissarawan pursued several complaints with various military offices, but the whole process was mired in bureaucracy. “I forwarded my complaint to the Royal Thai Army, the Fourth Army Region and to the office of the then army commander Prayut Chan-o-cha, but the only reply I ever got was from their secretaries, who just said they would look into the matter.”

Ms Narissarawan would not give up. At the time she was a student in Thammasat University’s social work faculty. She told faculty staff about her situation, who helped her contact the Human Rights Commission.

“A month after Wichian had died, we were still unable to cremate him because we wanted to keep some evidence of what happened. After I met Human Rights commissioner Niran Pitakwatchara, he told us to take the body for a forensic examination at Songklanagarind Hospital.

“His body was being kept at the temple, but uniformed and plain-clothed army officers were around the whole time, so we had to secretly take the body out one morning.”

The case got a real push when Ms Narissarawan attended an event at Vajiravudh College, a prestigious school in Songkhla that she and Wichian both attended.

The chair of the event was Privy Councillor Prem Tinsulanonda, another alumnus of the school, and Ms Narissarawan was able to forward a letter to him, which led to the Fourth Army Region finally launching their investigation into Wichian’s death.

As a result, the second lieutenant was suspended without pay, while the non-commissioned officers and privates were discharged from the army.

Ultimately, Ms Narissarawan wants the public to question the use of conscription and the training that young men are subjected to.

She also wants debate about paternalism, which she says normalises violence in the name of “brotherhood” and obstructs justice by feeding a conspiracy of silence.

“Some family friends told us after that after the second lieutenant was suspended, the family of the first lieutenant sent him a monthly stipend.

“One major who lied to the investigation committee at first was jailed for three days afterwards, but he was happy to be jailed rather than expose his subordinates’ behaviour.

“The army has a clear rule that conscripts must not be touched or physically abused by trainers under any circumstances, but since the officers support one another when they break the rules, violence will continue. Nobody dares to stop it for fear of breaking the code of brotherhood.”

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Wichian served in the monkhood for eight years before he was drafted and had an excellent academic record.

“Nobody in the family knew he had been drafted,” Ms Narissarawan said. “My grandmother only found out when she received the call to say that he had run away for the first time on May 9.

“He was about to graduate with a masters in social work from Thammasat, and had already bought the gown for the graduation ceremony in August.

“Of the 200 conscripts interviewed by the committee, nobody could say why he ran away. One of them said he fainted on the second day of training and had been calling himself attama, the pronoun that monks use to refer to themselves instead of pom.”

The trainers were furious because they thought he was mocking them. His fellow privates said he became their target from that moment on.

“He volunteered to be trained in the South, rather than undertaking secretarial duties in an army camp, as proposed by the recruiters in Songkhla,” Ms Narissarawan said.

“Nobody will ever really know why.”

Blood money: An army officer gives 30,000 baht to Wichan’s family to help them with the costs stemming from his death. The family later received more but want the culprits to pay.

Funeral rights: A series of vicious beatings by members of the armed forces claimed the life of the honours graduate and former monk, but his family’s call for justice has gone unheeded.

Well educat ed: Wichian had obtained a BA and MA and collected 10 English course certificates from Thammasat University.

Paying respects: Representatives from the Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Military Camp attend Wichian’s funeral. His family refused to have a military funeral for soldiers who die on duty.

Acomplished: Phra Wichian Phuaksom being handed his BA in religion from Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University in 2010.

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