Thai court increases soldier’s sentence to 10 years for killing of civilians

Three villagers were gunned down by an army ranger unit during a 2019 incident on a mountain in the Thai Deep South.
Nontarat Phaicharoen
2025.01.15
Bangkok
Thai court increases soldier’s sentence to 10 years for killing of civilians Investigators and forensic officers enter the scene of fatal shootings at the Khao Ta We mountain range in Ra-ngae district, Narathiwat province, southern Thailand, Dec. 17, 2019.
Internal Security Operations Command

An appeals court sentenced an army ranger to 10 years for the 2019 killing of three civilians in Thailand’s Deep South and acquitted a volunteer member of his unit, in a rare prosecution of security personnel in the insurgency-stricken region. 

The verdict on Wednesday by the Appeals Court modified a ruling by the Narathiwat Provincial Court that had sentenced Cpl. Nutthawut Butthum and volunteer Sitthichai Songchuay for negligence causing death in the killings of the civilians. 

The three civilians, local villagers Budiman Mali, Manasi Sama-ae and Hafisi Mada-o, were cutting trees in the forest on Khao Ta We, a mountain in Ra-ngae, a district in the province, when the ranger unit ran into them on Dec, 16, 2019. 

Authorities initially described the shootings as a mistake, saying that the military unit mistook the three for insurgents. The Deep South is home to a long-running insurgency fought by Malay Muslim separatists.

In July 2023, prosecutors indicted Nutthawut and Sitthichai on charges of intentional murder. Last February, the provincial court sentenced them to six years in prison for negligence causing death, but reduced the punishment to four years because they had cooperated. 

“The circumstances show that there was a stream between the soldiers and the deceased. The first defendant, who was the team leader, fired across the stream claiming self-defense, but then crossed over to shoot again,” Pornpimol Mukkuntod, a lawyer from the Cross-Cultural Foundation representing the villagers’ survivors, told BenarNews. 

“The court viewed this action as exceeding self-defense, ruling it as intentional killing with a 16-year sentence, reduced to 10 years for useful testimony.” 

The appeals court acquitted Sitthichai, the volunteer ranger, because he had testified to firing warning shots that did not cause any deaths, Pornpimol said.


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In the immediate aftermath of the incident, villagers gathered to question officials but received no response, while local media reported that security forces had killed three RKK (Runda Kumpulan Kecil) militant group members and seized weapons.  

Later, Lt. Gen. Pornsak Poolsawat, then-Fourth Army Region commander, admitted it was an operational error by the soldiers. 

15 TH-soldier-sentence2.jpg
Then-Thai army chief Gen. Apirat Kongsompong (third from right) inspects soldiers at the Fourth Army Region field office in Pattani one week after the fatal shootings of three civilians in neighboring Narathiwat province, Dec. 23, 2019. [BenarNews]

After the shooting, the Narathiwat Provincial Court conducted an inquest into the deaths where lawyers representing victims’ families participated in questioning. The court found grounds to charge the two soldiers, leading to their prosecution. 

“All three deceased were villagers, not insurgents. Although officers exercised caution, they misidentified them as violent perpetrators. When loss occurs, involved officers cannot deny responsibility and must face legal proceedings,” Pornsak said on Dec. 17, 2019.

Paisa Tateh, a Khao Ta We resident, called the ruling a good sign because it showed that when Deep South villagers sought justice, they could get a positive outcome.

“It feels right that rangers are being punished because they’ve never faced consequences before, never admitted wrongdoing and even deceived villagers by claiming these were combat encounters. If they had just admitted their mistakes, things could have been resolved,” she told BenarNews.

Similar incidents

At least three other cases of shootings based on mistaken identity have occurred in the border region. The first took place on Jan. 29, 2012, when soldiers opened fire on villagers traveling to a funeral prayer in Pulo Puyo subdistrict, Pattani province, killing four people.

The second incident occurred on March 26, 2015, when security forces shot and killed two villagers and two Fatoni University students while searching for insurgents in To Chud village in Pattani province.

On July 28, 2017, three villagers were shot and injured while riding in a pickup truck after soldiers at a checkpoint mistakenly identified them as suspects in Kraso, a subdistrict of Pattani. 

No one faced prosecution in those incidents.

“This is the first criminal case against security forces and the first time soldiers have appeared in civilian court for killing villagers,” Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, director of the Cross Cultural Foundation, told BenarNews. 

“It sets a good precedent for justice, though it may be an isolated case. We must thank prosecutors and police for maintaining public faith in the justice system,” she said.

Recent incidents

Violence tied to the separatist insurgency has caused about 7,500 deaths and 14,000 injuries since the conflict reignited in January 2004, according to Deep South Watch, an NGO that monitors the region.

Already in 2025, three significant attacks have occurred. Just days after the start of the new year, insurgents detonated a bomb targeting police officers at a checkpoint in Sai Buri district, Pattani province, injuring six officers. Last week, another explosion in Pattani city injured six civilian defense volunteers.

The most recent attack occurred on Tuesday when suspected militants ambushed a pickup truck carrying Border Patrol Police instructors in Si Sakhon district, Narathiwat province. The attack killed two instructors.

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