Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha said Monday that a growing scandal over a three-year-old viral video clip involving a group of soldiers having sex with a woman was not rape and may not even be illegal.
Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha said Monday that a growing scandal over a viral video clip involving a group of soldiers having sex with a woman was not rape and may not even be illegal.
He accepted the group of men are soldiers but defended that they were not raping the woman but it might be a case of "mutual consent".
"I'm not sure what the woman was thinking," he said. "She might want it all to be fun, wanted to take a photo, wanted to have activities with soldiers... I don't know but the soldiers did the wrong thing and they're not gentlemen."
Photos of the video have spread widely in internet forums and social networks. They show five men having sex with a woman in a room which appears to be a state office, while another man with camouflage trousers takes the photos of them.
He accepted the group of men are soldiers but defended that they were not raping the woman but it might be a case of "mutual consent".
"I'm not sure what the woman was thinking," he said. "She might want it all to be fun, wanted to take a photo, wanted to have activities with soldiers... I don't know but the soldiers did the wrong thing and they're not gentlemen."
Photos of the video have spread widely in internet forums and social networks. They show five men having sex with a woman in a room which appears to be a state office, while another man with camouflage trousers takes the photos of them.
"In my view, it may not break the law, but it violates the army's regulations which have maximum punishment of being sacked," or dismissed from the service, he said. He added he would not protect the soldiers involved.
"I don't know if this is a plot to discredit the army," he said.
An army source said the army chief instructed legal unit to consider if the army can take legal action with those who released the photos via the internet.
The scandal apparently is three years old, involving a military trainer who ordered army conscripts to have sex with a woman in a military camp and took photos, the source said.
It is believed that the incident happened in a unit under the Third Army in the North, the source added.
The army chief instructed the legal unit to consider whether the army can take legal action against those who released the photos on the internet.
EARLIER REPORT
(NOTE: The army and other sources have denied that the woman involved in the incident is autistic. The following, earlier report has been edited to reflect that denial.)
An investigation has been launched into a video clip which has gone viral, showing six conscripts engaging in group sex with a woman, national army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha told his daily meeting with senior officers, a military source said on Monday.
Pictures of the incident have appeared on the internet (see below).
Gen Prayuth said the six conscripts had acted thoughtlessly and that the woman should not have given in to them, the source said.
The incident occurred three years ago and the six conscripts had since been discharged, but the conscript trainer and the cameraman would still face penalties, he said.
"The [camp] colonel will not receive his pension and the conscript trainer will be penalised for allowing the incident to take place in a military camp," Gen Prayuth said, according to the source.
The army chief said he had ordered the Office of the Army Secretary to urgently identify the unit that released the video clips. If discovered, a maximum penalty would be applied even though the incident happened three years ago.
The legal division will look into whether the army can prosecute the person who posted a picture of the incident on a social media website, as the person might be in violation of the Computer Crimes Act for tarnishing the army's image, he said.
There were reports that the group sex incident took place at Army Region 3, which looks after the North.
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