Guards linked to apparent suicide of ex-cop to face prosecution

Prison guards allegedly involved in the suicide of a former police officer while in custody will face prosecution under the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act BE 2565 (2022), said a subcommittee for investigating torture and enforced disappearance.

Thitisan “Jo Ferrari” Utthanaphon, 43, a former superintendent of Nakhon Sawan City Police Station who tortured a suspect to death in 2021, died by suicide while being held in isolation in Khlong Prem Central Prison in Bangkok on Friday.

However, relatives have doubts over Thitisan’s reported suicide, saying he had filed complaints that he had been attacked by a guard and had a fight with a prisoner.

Nation TV previously revealed a forensic medical examination report on Thitisan dated January 23. Part of the report said the former police officer had been physically assaulted, with wounds on the left rib and under the left breast due to impact of blunt object.

On Sunday morning, a subcommittee for investigating torture and enforced disappearance joined the autopsy of Thitisan’s body at the Central Institute of Forensic Science in Bangkok’s Lak Si district.

The director general of the Office of the Attorney General’s investigation department, Pol Capt Dr Chokchai Sitthipolkul, said the subcommittee, of which he is vice-chairman, will discuss Thitisan's complaint of a prison-guard assault.

However, he said the subcommittee will allow investigators at Prachachuen Police Station, which received Thitisan’s complaint through his lawyer, to investigate the case.

“If there has been an offence that falls under the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act, legal action will be taken,” he said, adding that suggestions the prison did not allow a police investigation will be considered as well.

Chokchai said the prosecutor will make the autopsy report and submit it to the court, so that the court can investigate Thitisan’s death.

Thitisan’s family, relatives and a lawyer have overseen the autopsy, and they will take his body for another autopsy to compare results.

(2025/03/09-00:00)