CADET’S RELATIVES TAKE AIM AT ACADEMY

CADET’S RELATIVES TAKE AIM AT ACADEMY

The family of the late cadet Pakapong “Moei” Tanyakan has lodged a complaint with police in Nakhon Nayok against the elite academy he attended over his suspicious death after refusing to meet soldiers on Monday to discuss the military’s findings.

Relatives of the 18-year-old cadet, who had been enrolled in the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School in the province, yesterday declined to give details on their complaint, saying they want to keep them confidential for now. However, a source familiar with the issue said their complaint centres on doubts over the death of Pakapong on Oct 17, which a Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters panel concluded was the result of a sudden heart attack. Pakapong’s older sister, Supicha, was quoted as saying on Friday the military’s findings were not new and yesterday said she “still trusts the investigation process of the police”.

Deputy Nakhon Nayok police chief Niphon Phanitcharoen said the conclusions of the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters are “not relevant” to police work. The military’s job was like an internal inquiry by state agencies to determine whether somebody committed disciplinary violations, but police will find out whether somebody broke any laws, he said. Pol Col Niphon said the police investigation is now 70% complete, and is waiting only for a laboratory analysis of Pakapong’s internal organs.

The family is still waiting for the Justice Ministry’s Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) to conduct the analysis.

The agency said earlier it could not start its work until it extracted DNA from the organs to confirm they belonged to Pakapong. However, this might prove difficult because the organs were kept in the preservative formalin for too long, it added. The family secretly removed their son’s body from funeral rites at a temple on Oct 24 so the CIFS could perform an autopsy. During the procedure, the autopsy team found some of the organs were missing. The army hospital which removed his organs without the knowledge of his parents later returned them for further analysis to be carried out.  Source: Bangkok Post