The organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Thai authorities this Tuesday to open criminal proceedings for the alleged torture and mistreatment of recruits in the Royal Thai Navy's Marine Division. The NGO emphasizes that both the government and the military establishment "must end the entrenched practice of hazing and other brutalities" and bring those responsible to justice "regardless of their rank."
In a statement, HRW reiterated that "Thai authorities must criminally investigate the alleged torture and mistreatment inflicted on recruits in the Royal Thai Navy's Marine Division" and stressed that "the Thai government and armed forces must end the entrenched practice of hazing and other brutalities against recruits and prosecute those responsible in accordance with the law, regardless of their rank."
The entity has focused on the case of soldier Panuwat --whose full identity has been kept confidential for security reasons--. At the end of June, the soldier recounted in an interview that, a month earlier, a group of higher-ranking recruits beat him and other comrades, forced them to undress, whipped them with belts, and caused burns with hot wax and a lighter during a hazing ritual in the first Battalion of the Royal Guard Infantry, first Infantry Regiment, Marine Division, in Chonburi province.
After the case became public, the Royal Thai Navy announced disciplinary sanctions against those allegedly involved, but without initiating criminal proceedings, Human Rights Watch has pointed out.
HRW's Asia Director, Elaine Pearson, has warned that "the terrible experience suffered by soldier Panuwat and other recruits demonstrates that the Royal Thai Navy continues to fail to keep its promises to end torture and other forms of brutality in barracks." Pearson insisted that "authorities must protect recruits by thoroughly investigating and criminally prosecuting all those responsible for this atrocious harassment, including officers who allow this to happen under their command."
The organization has recalled that, on June 24, two days after Panuwat's complaint, the Royal Thai Navy concluded in an internal investigation that 15 senior non-commissioned officers had participated in violent acts against the soldier --who has been transferred to another unit-- and other recruits, and ordered their detention for 30 days as a disciplinary measure.
Likewise, three other senior non-commissioned officers who witnessed the assault were arrested for seven days for failing to prevent it, while two more non-commissioned officers face a ten-day disciplinary detention and have been excluded from the annual merit decorations for failing to report the incident to the unit commanders.
Given the lack of a criminal case, the regional director of Human Rights Watch has called for "concerned governments to denounce the mistreatment of recruits by the Thai government and its lack of criminal prosecution for alleged torture during the review of Thailand's human rights record at the UN Human Rights Council in November."
For HRW, "what happened to soldier Panuwat and other recruits in the Marine Infantry Division should be the last case of brutality in barracks in Thailand."