Impunity in military courts must end

The Anutin government's sudden dissolution of Parliament has frozen a long list of bills that would have nudged Thailand toward a more open and accountable society.

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One of them is a move to curb military impunity by prosecuting soldiers in corruption and criminal cases in civilian, not military, courts.

The next government must finish this task to ensure that every person is equal under the law.

Military courts are not designed to protect the public. They protect the institution. Their judges are officers, many without legal expertise. Civilians cannot appoint their own lawyers. Evidence is filtered through military prosecutors. Court buildings sit inside restricted military compounds. And the verdicts repeatedly favour the accused when the accused wears a uniform.

No justice system can survive when one arm of the state is allowed to police itself.

The effort to send soldiers accused of corruption or crimes against civilians to be tried in civilian courts was meant to fix exactly that. It was simple: treat soldiers like any other public official.

But just before Parliament was dissolved, a majority of a House committee led by Pheu Thai politicians made a U-turn to keep these cases in military courts as before. The timing was no accident. It came as the armed forces were reasserting influence during a border conflict with Cambodia, knowing full well that public sympathy tends to drift their way during wartime.