An exiled Thai critic of the country’s military and monarchy said he was attacked in his home in Japan last month and believes Thai authorities were behind the incident, an accusation that was ridiculed by the kingdom’s army chief.
Pavin Chachavalpongpun, 48, an associate professor at Kyoto University, said he was asleep with his partner last month when a man broke into their home at about 4am and sprayed the couple with a substance that burned their skin.
Neither was seriously hurt, but Pavin said they have been told by police not to return home. Japanese police confirmed they were investigating a July 8 incident in which a Thai man was sprayed in his house.
“The attacker clearly wanted to intimidate,” Pavin said, adding that he had no personal disputes that could have been behind the attack.
“The doctor said the chemical was not deadly, but said that the burning sensation will stay for quite some time,” Pavin said.
A prominent political dissident who has denounced the Thai military’s coups in 2006 and 2014, Pavin has also openly criticized Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn, breaking a taboo in Thailand, where criticizing the monarch is illegal.
Pavin accused the army of being behind the attack and said he had been told this by sources, but he said he had no evidence and did not identify the sources or say how they would know.
The suggestion was rejected by Thailand’s army chief, General Apirat Kongsompong, who is also head of the king’s Royal Guard Force.
He told reporters that he had heard about the attack, but was astonished at any idea that the military could be involved.
“I’d say don’t be too imaginative. This is not a Mission Impossible movie,” Apirat said, adding that a personal dispute might be behind the incident.
“We have our hands full in addressing problems internally in Thailand, and to think that we dispatch people to go assault people overseas — that is impossible,” Apirat said.
Pavin said he believed the break-in at his home was part of a trend of attacks on Thai dissidents who have fled the country.
“I think Thai dissidents now have to be more careful, even those living in the so-called First World, because even in a safe country like Japan an attack can occur,” Pavin said. “There is no question that they could attack you any time.”
Since December last year, at least six exiled Thai activists who lived in neighbouring Laos have disappeared.
All of those who disappeared had spoken out against the military and the monarchy.
Thailand’s government has said it has no knowledge of any of the disappearances of dissidents abroad.
Among the cases that have rattled Thai activists living overseas was that of Chatcharn Buppawan, 56, and Kraidej Luelert, 46, whose handcuffed bodies were pulled from the Mekong river that separates Thailand and Laos in December last year.
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