Tribunal set up for villagers died in custody

13 Jul 2019

Phadu Tun Aung | DMG

13 July, Sittwe   

An investigation is going to be set up as of 12 July in order to find out the truth about the deaths of detained villagers in custody while the Tatmadaw was questioning them under suspicion of involvement with the Arakan Army, the Tatmadaw True News Information Team said.  

The total of 15 people died in custody.  The latest death was of Ko Zaw Win Hlaing, a villager from Pauk Taw Pyin village in Mrauk-U Township. He got injured during the Tatmadaw’s interrogation and died undergoing medical treatment in Sittwe hospital. But, the Tatmadaw denied that they tortured anyone during the detention.

Ko Nay Myo Tun from the same village died in late June. Moreover, eight men from Rathedaung Township, three from Lekka village in Mrauk-U Township and one man from Pan Myaung village in Minbya Township and Mintha Taung village in Kyauktaw Township were killed in custody.

The death of Kyauktan villagers occurred on 2 May.  They shot him dead while the Tatmadaw detained over 270 villagers at the village school for questioning. The villagers said that the gunfire started when a mentally ill person cried out, but the Tatmadaw responded that soldiers had to resort to open fire when villagers grabbed a gun from a soldier.

The Tatmadaw said that the case will be investigated if it is in accord with the law, however, nothing has been released so far. The Myanmar Human Rights Commission later conducted an investigation and issued a statement that there were no violations of human rights in the case.

Since several villagers were killed in custody, Arakanese people and CSOs levelled criticism at the Tatmadaw in the wake of the Tatmadaw’s announcement to set up investigation tribunal. 

Daw Khin Saw Wai, Pyithu Hluttaw MP from Rathedaung Township, welcomed the Tatmadaw’s investigation tribunal but she said that the tribunal should look into the case fairly and conduct field surveys to know the real situation on the ground.

“(They) need to investigate the cause of the death by asking the family members of the deceased villagers. The team should ask about the feeling of the bereaved,” she told the DMG.

The Tatmadaw established an investigation commission regarding the murder of ten Muslims in Inn Din village, Maungdaw Township, in 2017. Then, seven military officers and others of different ranks were sentenced to 10 years’ hard labour.

However, they submitted a petition to the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Service and were released from prison after serving about one-year imprisonment.  Activists for Muslims’ affairs and political observers criticized their early release. 

Daw Khin Saw Wai said that the findings of the Human Rights Commission regarding the military troop’s gunfire to Kyauktan villagers is different from the situation on the ground, so people lack trust in the performance carried out by the government.

“No one believes in any results although a probe set up by the Tatmadaw comes and looks into the case now. So, I’d like to suggest that it is important not to repeat such situation,” she said.

The ongoing armed conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army started in early December 2018. Meanwhile, the Tatmadaw declared its unilateral ceasefire in other five military commands on 21 December, excluding the Western Command in Arakan State where skirmishes are ongoing. So ethnic armed groups demanded a cease fire in Arakan State but the request was in vain.

Subsequently, the AA attacked four political outposts in Buthidaung Township on 4 January, the President’s Office instructed the Tatmadaw to quash the AA. Moreover, the State counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi instructed the Tatmadaw to launch a crackdown on the AA as quickly as possible. So, the skirmishes between the Tatmadaw and the AA intensified in Arakan State.

The Tatmadaw announced that more than 90 people have been arrested on suspicion that they are tied with the AA during the time clashes are occurring. But, Arakan CSOs predicted that the number of detained villagers under suspicion of connection with the AA has been higher than that figure.