Thailand: Again, Ekkachai gets hit in the head.
Event- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Mar 5, 2019
- Event Description
On 5 March, Ekkachai Hongkangwan, a political activist, got hit again in the head after attending a hearing with the Medical Council of Thailand against Dr. Rienthong Nanna. Two people rode a bike without a registration sign to approach Ekkachai. The biker wore black jacket and a helmet, while another one at the back wore camouflage mask and clothes. One of them battered Ekkachai in the head with a stick, and another was coming with an iron pipe. Fortunately, a good citizen intervened, so the offenders fled away before having a chance to use it. This is the sixth time that Ekkachai was physically assaulted. Earlier, his car was also torched in front of his house. Ekkachai had injury in the head and bruises in his arms and arrived at Phra Nang Klao Hospital with a help from rescuers. When it happened, the political activist was leaving the Medical Council of Thailand at 16.00 after having a hearing with an ethical committee to launch an investigation against Dr. Rienthong Nanna, the director of Mongkutwattana Hospital. He had filed a complaint on 17 January in order to revoke Rienthong's medical license on the ground of discrimination, verbal abuses, and posting inappropriate statements on Facebook. These actions, Ekkachai claimed, are against the medical ethics. Rienthong Nanna is a chairman of Rubbish Collection Organisation (RCO), the ultra-royalist vigilante group very active in enforcing lese majeste law and promoting royalist agenda. In January, Rienthong has threatened a lecturer at the College of Politics and Governance, Mahasarakham University after posting in support of the election in the context of its delay and coronation scheduling. After the threatening, Ekachai and Chokchai wanted to talk to Rienthong, leading to a debate on street about that issue as well as everything else that was happening.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 15.870032
Longitude: 100.992538
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 5 March 2019, Ekkachai Hongkangwan, a political activist, got hit again in the head after attending a hearing with the Medical Council of Thailand against Dr. Rienthong Nanna.