Army promises probe into alleged conscript abuse in Chiang Mai

The Thai Army has set up a fact-finding panel to investigate an allegation that 10 conscripts were forced, by two non-commissioned officers, to strip naked and stand in the rain for six hours at an army barracks in Fang district of Chiang Mai.

Some of the conscripts were allegedly kicked, slapped and beaten by the two officers, according to the Sai Mai Tong Su web page, which also posted a blurred picture of the ten victims standing in the rain.

The page’s administrator claims that he has received a complaint from a family member of one of the 10 conscripts, alleging that her brother, who was originally based in Saraburi province, was transferred to a barracks in Fang district and that the conscripts at that barracks were mistreated by the two unnamed officers every time they got drunk.

Decha Kittivittayanan, a lawyer, said in his Facebook post that such abuse of conscripts by their superiors should stop and the perpetrators must be punished and dismissed from the service.

Alleged abuse of conscripts by officers is still occasionally reported via social media, despite the Army’s promise to end such malpractice.

Photo by FB: Survive - สายไหมต้องรอด