Chaiyaphum Pasae was a teenage Lahu human rights activist from Thailand who worked to promote the rights of ethnic minority groups. On 17 March 2017, at around 11:00, he was shot dead at the Ban Rin Luang checkpoint in Mueang Na Sub-district, Chiang Dao District, Chiang Mai Province, near the Thai-Myanmar border. He had been a passenger in a car driven by his friend, Pongsanai Sangtala, when soldiers stopped the vehicle to conduct a search.
The soldiers said they found roughly 2,800 methamphetamine pills hidden in the car's air cleaner, and alleged that Chaiyaphum brandished a knife, attempted to escape, and tried to throw a hand grenade at them, prompting one soldier to fire in what the army described as self-defense. Chaiyaphum died at the scene. Notably, one month earlier another Lahu man had been shot dead at the same checkpoint under similar circumstances after being accused of possessing drugs and allegedly resisting officials; despite seven CCTV cameras in the vicinity, the details of that earlier death also remain unresolved.
An eyewitness told Thai PBS that Chaiyaphum was dragged from the car, beaten, and had his face stepped on before being shot; soldiers reportedly fired two warning shots, and when Chaiyaphum broke free and ran, he was shot dead. Villagers were kept away from the scene. Human Rights Watch called for a transparent investigation into the killing, which caused widespread disbelief in Thailand.
The subsequent investigation was marked by repeated failures to produce CCTV footage the army said existed and supported its version of events. The army handed over a disk drive to police on 24 March 2017, but police said they could not locate the relevant footage. A hard disk and recording device were later sent to the Central Police Forensic Science Division, sealed with signed duct tape, but forensic officials said they lacked the software to open the file. On 29 May 2017, authorities arrested two of Chaiyaphum's relatives, Chantana Pasae and Nawa Ja-eu, on drug charges, alleging they had supplied the drugs found on Chaiyaphum — an action that followed the relatives' public criticism of the case.
The Chiang Mai Provincial Court held inquest hearings beginning 5 July 2017, continuing into March 2018, without CCTV evidence. Forensic testimony presented during the inquest found no fingerprints of Chaiyaphum's on the knife soldiers said he wielded, and his DNA was found only on the body of the grenade, not the pin. On 6 June 2018, the court ruled that the fatal bullet was fired by authorities but declined to rule on disputed claims about the drugs, grenade, or knife, stating its role was limited to determining cause of death. In August 2018, the army told the family's lawyers that no video of the incident existed, claiming the footage had been taped over.
Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jesse B. Awalt/ReleasedPublic domainSourceUNSOLVEDListen
