Thai soldiers ‘tortured and killed Myanmar migrant’, rights group says

A human rights group has called on Thai authorities to fully investigate three soldiers for the “horrific” death of a Myanmar migrant on the border in Tak province earlier this year, saying they had tortured and beaten the man.
Aung Ko Ko, 37, died after three soldiers and a Myanmar national brought him to an abandoned military bunker where they kicked and beat him with a bamboo stick for wearing the vest of a village defence group bearing the Thai flag, Fortify Rights said, citing eyewitnesses and legal documents.
The report by Fortify Rights, “Death at the Thai-Myanmar Border”, notes that the victim was in fact a volunteer member of the Baan Tai village security patrol, known in Thai as Chor Ror Bor, organised and trained by Thai authorities and identified by their uniform of black vests bearing the Department of Provincial Administration logo.
A Thai court convicted the Myanmar man, Sirachuch, in September and sentenced him to five years in prison for being an accomplice to Aung Ko Ko’s death, according to Fortify Rights and the defendant’s lawyer, who declined to comment further, citing the sensitivity of the case.
However, the police chief in Mae Sot, where Aung Ko Ko’s body was found, told Reuters that Sirachuch had not identified his accomplices.
“We have followed the legal process fully but he did not name others,” Pol Col Pittayakon Petcharat said.
The army said it was looking into the allegations.
“We are in the process of investigating and looking for the facts, but Thailand has always given priority and give importance to human rights, equally to everybody,” AFP quoted army spokesman Maj Gen Thanathip Sawangsang as saying.
Reuters could not independently verify the claims or reach Sirachuch for comment. Reuters sent questions to him via his lawyer.
In a statement, Fortify Rights’ chief executive officer Matthew Smith said Thailand, as an incoming member of the United Nations Human Rights Council after it was elected in October, had a “heightened responsibility to protect human rights”.
“The horrific torture and killing of Aung Ko Ko cannot be allowed to go unanswered,” he said.
Smith said he spoke to the Department of Special Investigations (DSI) in early November about the case. The DSI did not respond to a request for comment.
The case comes amid rising anti-migrant sentiment in Thailand since the coup in Myanmar in 2021 plunged the country into chaos and sent many people fleeing across the border.
Some ultra-nationalist groups have complained that government regulation has been lax, leading to a rising number of illegal Myanmar migrants who they say obtained social benefits meant for Thais.
Aung Ko Ko’s close relative said he was a construction worker and had left Myanmar to seek better healthcare.
“They didn’t have to kill him,” the relative said, through tears. “I feel very hurt. I want those culprits who killed (him) to have suitable punishment.”