Photos not rape, says Prayuth

Photos not rape, says Prayuth
Published: 15/05/2012 at 02:01 AM


Photos of five soldiers having sex with a woman on the internet were probably not a case of rape, says army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha.

He said it might have been a case of "mutual consent".

Commenting on an internal probe into the pictures, Gen Prayuth said officers would talk to the soldiers involved. "I'm not sure what the woman was thinking. She might have wanted to have fun, wanted to take photos. I don't know, but the soldiers did the wrong thing and they're not gentlemen," he said.

"I don't know if this is a plot to discredit the army," he added.

"In any case, we have to respect the woman, who most likely didn't want to appear in this picture. We have to find out the truth."

If any soldiers are found guilty of any violations, they will be punished, he said.

The photos feature five men having sex with a woman while another man with camouflage pants takes photos.

The army is also looking at whether it can take legal action against the person who released the photos.

The scandal dates from an incident three years ago when an army trainer ordered new conscripts to have sex with the woman in a military camp.

The incident happened in a unit under the 3rd Army which oversees the North.

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