Military Kills Hilltribe Addicts in Thailand's Forced 'Detox Camps' by Phairath Khampha 31 January 2002 In their zeal to suppress drug trafficking, Thailand's authorities resorted to torture and murder of hilltribe suspects, victims and relatives revealed. Ateh Amoh, an Akha man, was savagely beaten by soldiers who took him and other Akha men, mostly drug users, from their homes and held them at a military camp. There they beat them to extract a confession, he said. His neighbour, Ajuuh Cheh Muuh Gooh, 42, died from the beating. Ethnic Thais rabidly despise the Hilltribe people whom they see as ethnically and biologically backwards. But at least an army general admitted these mistakes and said he would investigate. A lieutenant-colonel overseeing border villages in Mae Fah Luang district claimed responsibility for the death of the Akha man in the army-run drug rehab camp. The authorities denied any wrongdoing and said Mr Ajuuh's death was caused by withdrawal symptoms as a result of his attempt to end his opium habit during a detoxification programme. Mr Ateh, 34, said he was taken from his house in Ban Mae Moh hilltribe village, Mae Fah Luang district, by soldiers in the early morning of December 7, 2001. His neighbour, the late Mr Ajuuh, was taken from the same village the same day. Three other Akha men, their names unknown, were taken from nearby villages. All of them had smoked opium for a long time and had been suspected of drug trafficking. Mr Ateh said the soldiers insisted he and Mr Ajuuh join the opium detoxification programme at a military camp near the village. As soon they arrived at the camp, the soldiers pushed them down a small hole in the ground where the three other Akha men had already been detained. The soldiers then poured water, coal and ashes into the hole, leaving them to sit there for a whole day. It was not clear what this treatment was supposed to accomplish. "The soldiers never said why they were treating us like that. We doubted this was an opium detoxification process," Mr Ateh said. That night everyone was pulled from the hole, then blindfolded and led off separately for questioning. The soldiers asked him several times about his supposed connection with drug traffickers in the village, and he denied any involvement. "The soldiers never talked about the opium detoxification programme. They tried to force me to admit the drug charges by electric shocks to my ears, kicking my face and body, punching me hard in the body and hitting me with a gunhandle on my head and chest several times. When they felt that I could no longer stand it because my body was soaked with blood, they took me back to the hole and left me there for a night and a day," he said. He did not know about the other three men, but believed their experience was probably not much different. On the second night, one of the Akha men was able to escape from the hole while he and the others were sleeping. As soon as the soldiers found out they took the rest for questioning, on suspicion of aiding the escape. Mr Ateh said he was blindfolded and again beaten most savagely that night. His neighbour Mr Ajuuh died from his injuries. The soldiers told Mr Ajuuh 's family his death was the result of going cold turkey as he attempted to break the opium habit. "Ajuuh died while we were sitting together in the hole. I heard him calling for his father and mother, and he talked about his children and wife. I saw him dying before my eyes and I was scared almost to death myself," he said. Mr Ajuuh died in the early morning of December 9. The soldiers took his body, together with Mr Ateh and the other two Akha men, to the nearby Mae Fah Luang hospital where they were released to the care of doctors. Mr Ateh was kept in hospital for six days after doctors found his lung was ruptured and bleeding profusely. The army did not pay his medical expenses. Mr Ajuuh's wife, Apiew, 44, said the army gave her family 7,000 baht in compensation for the death of her husband. Mrs Apiew said the hospital had not confirmed her husband's cause of death. The hospital director, Dr Nongnuch Malin, refused to disclose the autopsy result, saying she needed more time to assess the situation. This is prudent of her as to tell the truth would at the very least mean a halt to her career and at the worst a tragic accident befalling her. "The army should not have killed my husband this way," Mrs Apiew said. "He was not involved in drug trafficking. If he was really involved why didn't the army show evidence and take him to court? Although we are hilltribe people we still have the right to the protection of the law." Lt-Col Apisit Nujbutsaba, who is responsible for the detoxification programme in Mae Fah Luang district, denied he had sent soldiers to take the drug addicts for detoxification. He said Por Luang, the eldest villager, had taken them to the camp. He insisted Mr Ajuuh died in the process of trying to break his opium addiction. He denied his soldiers had beaten Mr Ajuuh to death and injured other Akha men. The district chief, Chainarong Boonwiwatthanakarn, said he knew of the matter and had advised Mr Ajuuh's wife to file a complaint with police. That is the most he would do. The drug detoxification programme for hilltribe people is jointly handled by the army, the Public Health Ministry, the police and the Interior Ministry. It was launched in Chiang Rai on October 23, 2001. The province required all drug addicts to voluntarily register with village committees and join the programme. Those who registered were supposedly safe from prosecution. It now seems they would have been safer to carry on their way. The programme was aimed at separating drug addicts from dealers and traffickers. Mr Ajuuh was not the only case where the authorities killed Akha villagers they suspected of trafficking. On May 17, 2001, Apha Wurh Zur, 56, was taken from his house in Ban Mae Sam Lap village, in Mae Fah Luang district, and beaten to death by police officers and another Akha man in cahoots with them. The police had accused him of involvement in the drug trade. His wife Mee Shur, 56, denied the accusation and said police had demanded money from her in exchange for her husband's release. A common form of extortion regularly carried out by Thailand's police. Most are really nothing more than uniformed thugs. On August 9, 2001, Logu Yeh Shaw, 30, was shot three times by Mae Chan police officers and died. He had been accused of being a drug trafficker. The shooting occurred in Bodu village. His mother Byuabo Yeh Shaw, 70, denied her son was involved in drugs. These were only just a few of the many suspicious deaths of hilltribe people at the hands of the authorities in this northern province of Thailand. Most have never been properly investigated and never would because no one in Thailand could care less. Army chief admits `mistakes' - Probe launched into death of Akha man Some soldiers were wrong in using violent means to discipline hilltribe people involved in drugs and they would be punished, army chief Gen Surayud Chulanont said on January 22. His remark followed the report that an Akha man had been tortured to death during an army-run drug detoxification programme in Chiang Rai early in December. Gen Surayud said initial investigations found that soldiers sometimes resorted to violence to deal with hilltribe people involved in drugs in villages bordering Burma. Those soldiers would be punished and transferred, he said. "Absolutely, there have been mistakes," he said. That was because inappropriate measures had been applied in such detoxification programmes without authorisation and reports to superiors, Gen Surayud explained. They included the detention of drug addicts in soil pits. Inquiries were launched at the levels of the Third Army and the Pha Muang 1 Task Force. He said he wanted to know all the facts behind such drug rehabilitation courses in order to launch right solutions. The inquiries were to also look into the death of the Akha drug addict, Ajuuh Cheh Mooh Gooh. The army chief thanked the Thai media for revealing the news of the maltreatment. Army pledges to pay more money to dead Akha's kin The Thai army on January 25 pledged to pay more compensation to the family of the Akha man beaten to death at the army-run drug detoxification camp in Mae Fah Luang district. Col Manas Paowalit of the Third Army said the compensation would be paid after the completion of an army inquiry into the matter. "We are aware of the situation and are willing to help the man's family in every way," said Col Manas, who was assigned by Third Army commander Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkhasing to look into how and why hilltribe drug addicts were detained in dirt pits and tortured. Col Manas on the same day met the widow of Ajuuh Cheh Mooh Gooh--Mrs Apiew--and Ateh Amoh, the other drug addict who was savagely beaten until his lung was ruptured and bleeding. Mrs Apiew and Mr Ateh confirmed soldiers beat Ajuuh to death. Col Manas said he wanted to establish the truth because his chief, Lt-Gen Udomchai, was concerned the army's image was tarnished by the affair. The Third Army commander wanted to punish the soldiers involved in inappropriate actions against Ajuuh and Ateh. He said two sergeants involved in the beatings were transferred and a probe was launched by Maj-Gen Pichanmet Muangmanee, deputy commander of the Third Army. To reduce tension in the area, the military unit in the village would be moved to Kuteng Nayong outpost in Mae Sai district by the end of January, he said. Soldier takes blame for fatal beating A lieutenant-colonel overseeing the border villages in Mae Fah Luang district on January 26 claimed responsibility for the death of the Akha man in the army-run drug rehab camp. This was considered rather unusual because in Thailand it is normal for senior Thai officers to deny any wrongdoing, pay bribes and eventually get off scot-free. Lt-Col Apisit Nujbussaba, a battalion commander, said he was "very sorry" for the incident and was ready to face the consequences. Ajuuh Cheh Muuh Gooh, 42, was beaten to death in the army-run drug detoxification camp in the Mae Moh hilltribe village. "I am a man and a soldier who dares to accept the truth. In this fatal case, I think it was just an accident. My soldiers and I are human enough not to harm those who are weaker than us. Why did we have to act violently against the dead person and other tribesmen addicted to drugs?," Lt-Col Apisit asked. Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkhasing, Third Army commander, questioned Lt-Col Apisit over the incident. Lt-Col Apisit said he did not report the incident to his boss because he thought Ajuuh's death was just an "accident". However, he still claimed that Ajuuh's death was caused by symptoms from serious drug abuse and not from the effects of a beating. Widow struggles just to feed her children - Soldiers destroyed my life, she says Apiew Mooh Gooh's husband died in the army-run drug detoxification camp _ and she said the soldiers have destroyed her hopes and her life. Mrs Apiew, 44, said when she first heard that soldiers had taken her opium addicted husband, Ajuuh, and put him in the detoxification programme she was delighted. She wanted him to give up the drug, which he had smoked for many years. Despite being a long-time user, he was still strong and healthy. No one thought by joining the programme he could lose his life. "The soldiers beat my husband to death," she said. "They ruined my life and took away my hope. I no longer want them in my village." Mrs Apiew has lived in the village for 25 years. "When I see soldiers walking through the village, I dare not look them in the eyes. I hate them so much because they have changed my life so badly," she said, weeping. Ajuuh's death left Mrs Apiew alone to shoulder the burden of supporting her six young children, aged four to nine, and disabled 75-year-old father-in-law. Her children now have no hope in hell in even getting an education. The children are too young to work while her father-in-law cannot even cook rice for himself. Mrs Apiew says she rises early in the morning and walks across the hills alone to the tea plantation where she earns 60 baht (US$1.65) a day picking leaves. She does not work every day, as there is not enough work to go around. "Back in the old days, I did not have to work. Our daily income was enough for everyone," she said. "Today, I admit it is hard to find enough food for every meal. Some days I do not have enough money. Sometimes I have even begged for food from my neighbours and relatives," Mrs Apiew said. She had not slept well since her husband's death. She missed the old days when the family lived happily together and had time to think about the future. Her children no longer go to school because there no longer is money to pay the corrupt teachers. Mrs Apiew said she was worried she might die before having a chance to see her children grow. She wants the army and the government to help with her children's education, at least through to compulsory level, so that they can earn a living when they grow up. The army gaven Mrs Apiew 7,000 baht towards her husband's funeral, a paltry sum given that corrupt army officers engaged in various scams can make up to around 100,000 baht per day through their illegal activities. She said she needed the money just to keep her family from starving. Army pays up The Third Army eventually paid 100,000 baht in compensation to the widow of the Akha tribesman who died in the army-run drug detoxification camp. Third Army chief Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkhasing said he approved the payment as a welfare fund for Apiew Mooh Gooh. The army would also pay for the education of her children.