PHUKET: A prominent Red Shirt spokesperson in north eastern Thailand shot himself dead today after receiving an order to report with 27 others to an Army base under the military coup.
Several Red Shirts have quit politics following reprogramming by the Thai Army in the coup's reconciliation plan but Sarawut Bhuthornyothin, 59, went one step further. He chose to end it all with a .357 Magnum revolver.
Khun Sawawut owned a newspaper and a rice refinery in the Isarn province of Ubonratchathani, where he was a notable supporter of the Shinawatra governments.
His wife, who was at the two-storey rice mill today, told police that she, her daughter and mill workers heard a gunshot about 9am.
Running up stairs, they found the couple's bedroom door locked. One of the workers managed to prise it open, and they found Khun Sawawut, with his head severely damaged by a blast.
His wife said her husband had had a personal illness for years but there were seldom problems for the couple.
At 10pm last night, Khun Sawawut received an order to report to an Army base as part of a group of 28 between 10am and noon today. An hour before the check in time, he used the handgun.
The circumstances surrounding possible fraud in the former government's failed rice subsidy scheme are being investigated but there's no connection between the investigation and Khun Sawawut's death.
Several Red Shirts have quit politics following reprogramming by the Thai Army in the coup's reconciliation plan but Sarawut Bhuthornyothin, 59, went one step further. He chose to end it all with a .357 Magnum revolver.
Khun Sawawut owned a newspaper and a rice refinery in the Isarn province of Ubonratchathani, where he was a notable supporter of the Shinawatra governments.
His wife, who was at the two-storey rice mill today, told police that she, her daughter and mill workers heard a gunshot about 9am.
Running up stairs, they found the couple's bedroom door locked. One of the workers managed to prise it open, and they found Khun Sawawut, with his head severely damaged by a blast.
His wife said her husband had had a personal illness for years but there were seldom problems for the couple.
At 10pm last night, Khun Sawawut received an order to report to an Army base as part of a group of 28 between 10am and noon today. An hour before the check in time, he used the handgun.
The circumstances surrounding possible fraud in the former government's failed rice subsidy scheme are being investigated but there's no connection between the investigation and Khun Sawawut's death.
"better dead than red" is an old saying from the cold war, but Sarawut's personal illness may have been a mental one that re-surfaced, exacerbated by the politics of rice, the order to report to army base, and other possible anxieties he couldn't get appropriate mental health-care help for, and he couldn't cope with the demons any longer, tragic..
Posted by farang888 on June 3, 2014 06:27