Military mum calls for justice over slain son

A military mum called for justice over the death of her son, an army private from Uthai Thani province. She called for a full investigation, accusing 11 other soldiers of beating her son to death in a punishment cell.

The funeral of Pvt Kajornsak, 24, of the Fourth Infantry Division, took place at Thung Luang temple in the Nong Chang district of Uthai Thani on Saturday.

His mother, identified only as Somsri, said Kajornsak had been charged with theft of 500 baht (US$14) while on leave in 2021.

At his unit, after a court martial, he was sentenced to 13 months of detention in a military prison with his release scheduled for December 15 this year.

When Somsri contacted the prison to clarify the details of his release, she was told that the prison governor would be coming to her village to meet her personally. This obvious abnormality caused her considerable concern. But before the meeting with the prison boss, a village elder told her that she needed to contact the police in Phitsanulok.

When she called the police station there, she was informed that her son had died at Fort Somdet Phra Naresuan Maharat Hospital. A post mortem at the hospital indicated that Kajornsak had died from injuries sustained in a brutal and sustained assault.

She later learned from the prison chief that Kajornsak had been attacked by 11 other inmates who have since been charged with his killing. She was told that the beating took place when another prisoner suspected that her son had stolen two packets of coffee from his cellmates.

Shock and confused by the news, Somsri said the 11 individuals had given 200,000 baht in total to her family as a form of reparation – less than 20,000 baht each.

Somsri urged the media to follow up on the case of her son, saying she had seen how similar stories about abuses in the military were quickly forgotten without any justice being served.