The Ministry of Defence has been urged to pursue criminal charges against army officers caught using abusive and humiliating punishments.
The plea came in a petition to the House committee on military affairs by Ekkaphop Luangprasert, who exposed the abuse recently on the Sai Mai Tong Rod Facebook page.
The younger sister of one of the privates at an army base in Chiang Mai told Mr Ekkaphop that her brother and others were beaten and ordered to stand naked in the rain for over five hours.
The incident occurred in March at the 25th Cavalry Battalion of the 4th Cavalry Regiment, King’s Guard, in Fang district of the northern province.
When the Royal Thai Army learned of the case this month, it ordered an investigation. Two non-commissioned officers were subsequently put in a military prison for 45 days and had their one-time pension payments cut. However, no criminal charges have been laid.
Mr Ekkaphop said no military organisations have ever assisted victims of unlawful punishment in filing criminal charges against the perpetrators.
He urged the defence ministry, through the House committee, to consider suspending any military officers accused of unlawfully punishing their subordinates. This would send a strong message to abusive officers and deter them from committing misconduct, he said.
Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn, chairman of the committee, said he had stressed to the ministry that if soldiers are suspected of breaking the law, legal action should be pursued against them, not unlawful or violent punishment.
He said this helps ensure the punishment isn’t in breach of the Criminal Code and the law against enforced disappearance and torture, which requires that the supervisor of a proven wrongdoer receive one-third of the penalty handed to the subordinate.