Army’s conscription letter to dead cadet sparks anger
The Army has sparked more public anger after sending a conscription letter that threatened jail for a cadet who died three years ago in suspicious circumstances during training.
Supicha Tanyakan, sister of 19-year-old military cadet Pakapong Tanyakan, posted a photo of the letter, signed by a recruiting officer in Chonburi province, on her social media account. The letter drew outrage from netizens.
The Army today apologised for the mistake, blaming an administrative error.
Pakpong died on October 17, 2017, on his first day back at the Armed forces Academies Preparatory School in Nakhon Nayok province, just a day after recording abuse and violence in his diary. The school informed his family he had died of sudden heart failure but failed to provide a detailed autopsy report.
Before his body was cremated, the family managed to send it to a private hospital for another autopsy, which discovered that several of his organs were missing.
Supreme Commander Gen Thanchaiyan Srisuwan explained that Phramongkutklao military hospital only kept small samples of the organs, contradicting the autopsy report.
Phramongkutklao Hospital eventually sent the organs back to the family, who sent them to the Justice Ministry’s Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) for examination.
An investigation was launched at the military school, while Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon commented that violent hazing was a military tradition and people who could withstand it should not enrol in the first place.
CCTV footage from the school showed Pakapong being treated in the medical unit but offered no proof he died of a heart attack.
Meanwhile, his father Pichet Tanyakan was informed by a friend of his son had been taken to the unit after being physically punished.
The investigation into Pakapong’s death is thought to be ongoing but no one has been brought to justice.
Army spokesman Colonel Winthai Suwaree has apologised the family for the mistake on Tuesday (August 18).