Crusading lawyer exposes gunfire incident that police in Sakon Nakhon originally refused to touch
The army has admitted that a soldier threatened the life of an Israeli man by firing a gun at his coffee shop after the case was disclosed by a lawyer.
Maj Gen Worachet Chawananoraseth, the spokesman for the Second Army Region, said on Saturday that Lt Preecha Chaimat, 51, of the Third Engineering Battalion based in Nakhon Ratchasima, had fired bullets to threaten the Israeli man.
The case was first disclosed on Thursday by Sittra Biebangkerd, a high-profile lawyer who has developed a reputation for taking on cases against powerful individuals and institutions.
The lawyer said on his Facebook page that an army officer, whose name was not revealed, raided the coffee shop of the Israeli man in Sawang Daen Din district of Sakon Nakhon province where he lived with his children on Aug 6. The officer fired a number of bullets into the coffee house, according to the lawyer.
The Israeli, identified as Rudy Bahar, 53, later sought help from Mr Sittra’s law firm after receiving threats and after police in the northeastern province refused to take the case.
Mr Sittra said his client went to the Sawang Daen Din police station but officers refused to accept his complaint because, according to the post, soldiers were more powerful in the area than police.
He was later conned by an interpreter to sign a document on Aug 7 to declare that he would not pursue legal action against the soldier, according to the lawyer.
The motive was unclear but the lawyer said in the post that the woman had an affairs with the officer.
Maj Gen Worachet said soldiers from the Second Army Region took the officer to the Sawang Daen Din police station on Thursday — the same day that Mr Sittra revealed the incident — to be informed about charges on possessing a firearm in public and firing it in public. The weapon was seized.
Although Lt Preecha was released as police are still compiling evidence, the army has set up a committee to consider disciplinary punishment against him, the spokesman said.