Thai military personnel maintain vigilance along the Moei river on the Thai side, adjacent to the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Thailand’s Mae Sot district, as seen in April this year. AFP File Photo
A human rights organization on Thursday charged the Thai military with torturing and killing a Myanmar man near the border between the two nations this year. Fortify Rights stated in a report that four soldiers apprehended Aung Ko Ko, 37, in Thailand's western Mae Sot district on January 12 for donning the uniform of a Thai village security force. Three of the soldiers allegedly beat Aung Ko Ko with a long wooden stick during interrogation, leaving him severely injured and bleeding until he succumbed hours later, according to the rights group, which cited eyewitness accounts, photographs of the scene, and an autopsy report.
"The brutal torture and killing of Aung Ko Ko must not be ignored. The soldiers accountable for this should be held to account immediately," said Matthew Smith, CEO of Fortify Rights. Another Myanmar national who bore witness to the incident was subsequently convicted of manslaughter in connection with the death. Sirachuch, 24, who uses only one name, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, a verdict Fortify Rights condemned as a "miscarriage of justice" that must be rectified.
"We believe that Aung Ko Ko's tragic demise underscores a persistent pattern of impunity in Thailand for violence against migrants and refugees," the NGO stated. The army responded that it is examining the allegations. "We are in the process of investigating and seeking the facts, but Thailand has always prioritized and valued human rights for everyone equally," army spokesperson Major General Thanathip Sawangsang told AFP.
The ongoing conflict in Myanmar, triggered by the military's 2021 coup, frequently drives people to flee across the 2,400-km border between the two countries. Approximately 90,000 refugees reside in nine camps on the heavily guarded Thai side of the border, according to the United Nations, many having fled clashes between Myanmar's military and ethnic minority rebel forces. Thai security forces have faced criticism in the past for repelling boatloads of ethnic Rohingya entering Thai waters and for detaining migrants in overcrowded facilities. Thailand, which is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, does not differentiate between refugees and other migrants, and thousands live in the shadows within the country.
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