Military’s supreme court upholds suspended sentences over cadet’s death

The Military Court of Last Resort has upheld the lower courts’ suspended prison sentences passed on two senior cadets and a drill sergeant over the death of a first-year cadet, Pakapong Tanyakarn, at the Armed Force Academies Preparatory School in 2017.

The Court, that is equivalent to Supreme Court, ruled that, since the two defendants had never been sentenced to terms of imprisonment before, and that to put them in prison would not be useful at all, it deemed it appropriate to provide them with a chance to turn over a new leaf and to serve the country, which would be more useful.

The two defendants were each sentenced by two lower military courts to four months and 16 days in jail and fined 15,000 baht, but the imprisonment was suspended for two years.

The victim, Pakapong, was pronounced dead on October 17, 2017, in the compound of the Armed Force Academies Preparatory School, after he had been disciplined by two sophomores, identified as “Phipote” and “Phumiphat”, and a drill sergeant named “Piyapong”, in August of the same year.

According to the timeline of the case, Pakapong called his parents from the school’s hospital on August 23, telling them that he felt a lot of pain in his head, after being assaulted by his seniors in the bathroom.

On August 30, the victim was disciplined again, by being forced to run, despite a doctor’s recommendation that he should not be subjected to harsh training after recently being discharged from hospital.

On October 15, the victim was woken at around midnight and forced to exercise in a sauna. The victim and two classmates claimed, however, that they were sick, but were forced to do sit-ups nonetheless.

On October 16, the victim was disciplined yet again, by being instructed to fall backwards onto the ground. The following day, his disciplining continued. After grueling exercise, he fell unconscious and was taken to the school’s hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, reportedly from sudden heart failure.

The victim’s parents found several bruises on his body and had the remains taken to the Central Forensic Institute of the Public Health Ministry for an autopsy. It was discovered that some internal organs, such as the heart and brain, were missing.

In November, the Supreme Command issued a statement, admitting that the victim had been disciplined by some of his seniors and the drill sergeant. The parents then filed a complaint with the Department of Special Investigation.

In March 2019, the Office of the Attorney-General charged the three culprits with manslaughter, relating to the death of Pakapong, in the Military Court of First Instance.

The case dragged on, through three courts for seven years, until the final verdict of the Military Court of Last Resort was read today.