CCTV recordings show a Lahu student resisting soldiers’ operations at a checkpoint where he was shot dead in an extrajudicial killing last Friday, Army officials have said.

“We have now forwarded the recordings to the Army chief General Chalermchai Sittisart,” Third Army Area 3 chief Lt-General Wijak Banpasop said yesterday. “I personally think the soldier involved did not use excessive force. He just fired one shot at an arm but the bullet happened to be fatal.”

Wijak was referring to the shooting of Chaiyapoom Pasae, a prominent teenage Lahu activist, which has attracted massive attention from the Thai public and international organisations.

Several non-governmental organisations have already issued statements demanding justice for Chaiyapoom while Preeda Nakpiew, a lawyer of the Cross Cultural Foundation, has stepped forward to defend his name.

Police have labelled Chaiyapoom as a drug suspect after Third Army Area officers said a soldier shot Chaiyapoom in self-defence because he had pulled out a knife and then a hand grenade. Soldiers manning the checkpoint in Chiang Mai’s Chiang Dao district said they later found 2,800 methamphetamine tablets in Chaiyapoom’s car.

“He’s gone and cannot speak for himself anymore. So before you raise allegations against him, produce evidence,” Preeda said yesterday.

The information provided by officials was very different than the accounts of people who were close to Chaiyapoom, he added.

Preeda said his team would check Chaiyapoom’s bank account to verify police claims that anti-narcotics police had detected unusual financial transactions in his account.

“As far as we know, Chaiyapoom had just small savings in an account he opened with his school,” Preeda said. “The amount is not huge.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source said Chaiyapoom was a diligent boy who performed various activities in his free time to earn income.

“He was a speaker at various functions and got paid. He also collected forest produce for sale. Little by little, he had deposited money in his school account. Then he withdrew Bt40,000 to buy a car,” the source said.

On March 17, Chaiyapoom went out with a friend, Phongsanai Saengtala, when their car was stopped for a search at the checkpoint. Preeda said Phongsanai would be a key witness in the case.

The source said he rushed to the scene when he heard about the fatal shooting and saw Phongsanai handcuffed and crying while in the soldiers’ custody.

“I didn’t see methamphetamine tablets, a hand grenade or knife,” the source said.

Apart from the ongoing police investigation, the Third Army Area has also launched a probe in response to Chalermchai’s order.

Just as Third Army Area deputy commander Maj-General Sompong Chaengchamras, head of the probe, Wijak said he had instructed the unit overseeing the checkpoint to maintain the morale of the soldier who pulled the trigger.

“In my eyes, he just carried out his duty. If he is blamed as a villain, probably no soldiers will have the courage to take action in the future,” Wijak said, ““If I were the soldier at the scene, I might have fired several shots”.