Supreme Court Orders Thai Police to Pay Victim 4.3 Million Baht for Torture

After a 17-year legal battle, Thailand's Supreme Court on August 31 ordered the police to pay over 4.3 million baht in damages to Mr. Rittirong Chuenjit, who alleged he was tortured to confess to a robbery in 2009. The court also mandated the removal of his criminal record and fingerprints from the criminal registry. TV Channel 7 reported the verdict. The Bangkok South Civil Court on Charoen Krung road handed down the Supreme Court’s ruling. The plaintiff had sued the police under the Tort Liability of State Officials Act B.E. 2539 (1996). Lawyers from the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) attended the hearing. The Supreme Court ruled that the Thai police must pay a total of 4,380,000 baht to Rittirong and that his criminal record and fingerprints be expunged. On January 28, 2009, Rittirong, then 18 years old and a high school student, was arrested by Prachinburi Provincial Police Investigation Division officers. He was tortured, including having a black plastic bag placed over his head to suffocate him, in an attempt to force a confession to a robbery. Subsequent investigations by police and prosecutors revealed that the wrong person had been prosecuted. Rittirong then filed a criminal lawsuit against the police officers who tortured him at the Prachinburi Provincial Court. The court sentenced the officers to one year and four months imprisonment and a fine of 8,000 baht, but suspended the sentence for two years. Following this, Rittirong filed a lawsuit seeking damages from the police, the agency responsible for the torture, under the Act on Tort Liability of State Officials B.E. 2539 at the Bangkok South Civil Court. The Bangkok South Civil Court, as the court of first instance, ruled that the police must pay Rittirong compensation amounting to 3.38 million baht. Subsequently, Rittirong appealed. The Court of Appeal overturned the lower court’s judgment, ruling that the police should only pay 380,000 baht in compensation, plus interest at a rate of 7.5 percent per year from Jan.28, 2009, to April 10, 2021, and at a rate of 5 percent per year from April 11, 2021 onwards. This landmark decision highlights issues of police misconduct and the long road to justice for victims of torture in Thailand.