In news photos, Thanet Anantawong was dwarfed by soldiers who surrounded him. The diminutive man was 25 years old when the arms of the military snatched him for saying bad things about them.
He spent almost four years of his life behind bars in both military and civilian prisons. On Thursday, the civilian Criminal Court gave him back his freedom, ruling that the bad things he did were constitutionally protected.
Will the military appeal the ruling? They might. But considering their reputation is in tatters after many recent events, I doubt that they would try their luck and stir up public outrage, although never doubt their ability to commit foolish acts again and again.
Some people have urged Mr Thanet to file a lawsuit seeking compensation for the damage caused. But that's just wishful thinking. After the coup, the law was rewritten to grant complete immunity to the military.
The most one could hope for is some sort of apology from military top brass. But again that's just wishful thinking. The top brass are not in the habit of apologising for any wrongful acts for which they are responsible.
Since the military turned their war weapons against civilians and claimed the lives of nearly 100 people during the red-shirt protests in 2010, their threat against civilians has continued almost unabated.
And since the coup of 2014, the coup makers' drafted laws and orders have been applied to full force. Many anti-coup activists have found themselves subject to harassment, imprisonment and in some cases abduction.
Some dissidents escaped persecution at home to seek refuge abroad. And yet, somehow, they have met with extreme violence, the sources of which are yet unknown. Some were murdered; some mysteriously disappeared.
There has not been evidence to implicate the military although a broad swath of the public shares a suspicion.
But the military doesn't reserve its wrath only for the civilians. Even its own ranks have run into the full gamut of reprisals if they step out of line.
Reports of low-ranking soldiers seriously injured or even killed in military barracks have made the rounds on occasions. Very few, if any, of the perpetrators had ever been brought to justice, however.
Once you are in the armed forces, you are presumed to have taken an oath of silence. The oath of silence, though never officially acknowledged but widely subscribed to, goes like this: Do no harm to your juniors, and never squeal on your superiors nor your friends.
In other words, don't wash dirty laundry in public.
In a closed society such as the military, injustice often abounds. If you step out of line, harsh punishment and unjust treatments readily result.
However, sometimes the pressure cooker blows its lid as in the recent case of an armed soldier gone rogue in Nakhon Ratchasima in which dozens of people got killed.
That case involved a group of soldiers and some higher-ranking officers scheming together to make personal gain from the military budget. The army chief has promised to conduct a thorough examination of the case. But after more than four months, we have yet to hear any progress report.
A more recent case involves a rare whistle-blower who is now being subjected to military retribution.
Around the middle of last year, Sgt Narongchai Intharakawee, a budget clerk at the Army's Ordnance Department, has found that his name appeared in a list of names receiving travelling allowances in a number of projects that had gone on for years but which he knew nothing about.
Naively, he filed a report to his superior, but found himself being confronted by the senior officer who tried to first co-opt and then threaten him.
Sgt Narongchai said he later filed a complaint -- thrice -- with a hotline set up by the army chief, Gen Apirat Kongsompong, but heard nothing back.
During this time, he felt unsafe remaining at work and so requested a transfer to another unit but was denied.
Realising he was being left to fend for himself, he went to see an anti-corruption activist, Veera Somkawmkid, for help. Meanwhile, he stopped going to work.
The army then slapped him with a charge of desertion but also insisted that it had launched an investigation into Sgt Narongchai's corruption claim.
If found guilty of the charge, he could be dismissed from active duty and face a jail sentence from the military court of up to seven years.
After the massacre by the rogue soldier in Nakhon Ratchasima, Gen Apirat promised to investigate shady operations in the army and to pursue reform. So far no substantive results have come out of that promise.
At an unprecedented public lecture last year, Gen Apirat declared that the armed forces are the "the King's military". Sadly, he failed to say the armed forces should be "the people's military" as well.