Tortured man gets RTP cash

The Royal Thai Police (RTP) has been ordered to pay 3.38 million baht in compensation plus 7.5% interest to a man who was wrongfully arrested and tortured by the police in 2009.

The ruling by the South Bangkok Civil Court yesterday resolved the lawsuit filed by the victim, Ritrong Cheunjit, in 2017.

According to the lawsuit, the incident took place on Jan 28, 2009, when Mr Ritrong was arrested by officers from Prachin Buri Police’s criminal investigation unit over an alleged theft.

Mr Ritrong said while he was in police custody, officers tied a plastic bag around his head in an attempt to extract a confession from him.

The court also heard the officers had also threatened to kill Mr Ritrong and dump his body in the mountains if he didn’t confess to the crime.

However, it turned out the police had the wrong suspect in custody, and Mr Ritrong sued seven police officers who took part in his torture.

The Criminal Court had already found one of the defendants, Pol Lt Col Wachiraphan Pothirat, guilty of unlawful detention and abuse of power, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison and fined 12,000 baht.

As the defendant confessed to his actions, his prison sentence was reduced to one year and four months, and his fine cut to 8,000 baht.

In 2017, Mr Ritrong filed a civil suit with the Southern Bangkok Civil Court against the RTP and demanded that the police pay him compensation for damages and delete his criminal record from their database.