The Criminal Court has sentenced former cabinet minister Soonthorn Vilawan, 87, to death for the murder of a Prachin Buri councillor who was his adopted son. 

The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Chaimet Sitsanitphong, 49, was found dead inside Soonthorn’s house in Prachin Buri on Dec 11, 2024. Police investigators said he had been shot 22 times with a shotgun and handguns.

Chaimet had gone to Soonthorn’s house to seek support for his wife’s plan to run for the president’s seat in the Prachin Buri Provincial Administration Organisation. Soonthorn is a former president of the organisation.

A Muay Thai boxing promoter, Chaimet was considered the right-hand man of Soonthorn, whose family has dominated Prachin Buri politics for decades.

Witnesses said the two men talked on the ground floor of the residence. They quarrelled, Soonthorn cried, Chaimet prostrated himself in front of his adoptive father and then walked out of the house.

When Chaimet reached the gate, he walked back into the house and stayed there for about 20 minutes longer. Multiple gunshots were then heard.

Soonthorn told the court that he fired three warning shots towards the outside of the house and did not kill Chaimet.

Although there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, evidence including bullet paths and gunshot residue indicated Soonthorn was among the people who shot Chaimet, prosecutors said.

Soonthorn and six of his aides were taken into custody after the shooting. 

The court believed that Soonthorn used a shotgun belonging to an aide to fire three shots at Chaimet.

Three other defendants were also sentenced to death for the same crime as Soonthorn. 

The sentences of all four were commuted to life imprisonment for their useful testimony, the court said.

Soonthorn, a Bhumjaithai Party member and father of former deputy education minister Kanokwan Vilawan, served as a deputy public health minister from 1996-97 in the Chavalit Yongchaiyudh government. He was an 8-time MP for the eastern province.

He made headlines in June 2022 over alleged forest encroachment in Khao Yai National Park.

In February 2024, the Supreme Court banned Ms Kanokwan, a former Bhumjaithai MP, from elected office for life for forest encroachment.