http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investi ... discipline
When Songkhla native Wichen Puaksom left home to join the military in May, he was healthy, energetic, and eager to serve the nation.
A month later, the lifeless, bruise-covered body of the 26-year-old masters graduate was back in his home town to be cremated.
Wichen did not die in the service of the country he loved, but was beaten to death at his military camp by about a dozen lowranked and mid-ranked soldiers as punishment for disobeying orders and absconding from camp.
Wichen’s disfigured face and injured body moved family members to the conviction that justice must be done for Wichen.
They started submitting petition letters to state agencies seeking an explanation for what happened.
The Narathiwat Ratchanakarin army camp, where he served time as a conscript, sent soldiers to his funeral, asking if it could cover his coffin with the national flag, but the family refused.
His family says the flag draped over Wichen’s coffin cannot disguise the atrocity which he suffered at the hands of the state. They say Wichen was beaten to death in a form of institutionalised torture condoned by army top brass to drum "discipline" into errant troops.
Wichen, who reported for conscription after leaving the monkhood, might have found life as a conscript unbearable, so fled the Narathiwat Ratchanakarin military camp where he was being trained.
When soldiers from the camp caught up with him, they beat him as punishment, in a form of military correctional training known as "repairing".
The Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which investigated his death at the request of Wichen’s family, says he was beaten over the course of several days,anddenied medical treatment by the army when fighting for his life.
Wichen died in Narathiwat Provincial Hospital’s intensive care unitonJune 5of multiple injuries, including acute renal failure, and severe muscle injury.
The commission believes he was subjected to two days of beating, starting on June 1. His mother, Prathuang Puaksom, a farmer and vendor in Songkhla province, is struggling to come to terms with the loss. "I could not believe that it was him, as I barely recognised him in hospital. I don't know why he had to suffer so much," she said.
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There are some graphic photos of the victim, and more reporting on the link.
Just wish that I had the resources to go and help the family. If this is true somebody in command should be lined up and shot.
