Bangkok seeks to debunk abuse claims with UN, ICRC visit to detainees

Thailand plans to invite representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit captured Cambodian soldiers, to see for themselves how they are being treated.

Maj-Gen Winthai Suvaree, spokesman for the Thai army, said that the move is intended enable neutral observers to see that Cambodia’s accusation that their soldiers have been mistreated while in Thai custody is unsubstantiated.

Cambodia is demanding that Thailand return the captured soldiers, but Thailand is yet to decide whether they will be prosecuted for entering the country illegally.

The Cambodian government has claimed that two of their wounded soldiers, who were returned on Friday, had been beaten up by Thai troops. One had suffered a broken arm and the other has developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Thai army claims that both were treated properly before being returned to Cambodia.

Meanwhile, Maj-Gen Wanchana Sawasdee, deputy spokesperson for the Thai Supreme Command, accused the Cambodian government of lacking any dignity, for its refusal to accept the return of remains of their fallen soldiers, claiming that they were not Cambodian troops.

Speaking on the “Hone Krasae” TV talk show on Friday, he said that the Cambodian government has also refused to collect the remains of its soldiers who fell at Phu Makua and is leaving them to decompose on the battle ground.

Thai troops, stationed on Phu Makua hilltop, which is now under Thai control, have been complaining of the smell of decomposition, believed to coming from the bodies of the Cambodian soldiers abandoned in the area.

He said that the Cambodian leaders should honour their fallen for their ultimate sacrifice, but they have desecrated their memory, adding that he wonders how the wives and children of these soldiers would feel were they to know their loved ones had been abandoned and mistreated.