Burma Desk, AHRC
Story 1: Volunteer teachers sexually assaulted and killed inside a church compound
Names of victims: Maran Lu Ra, 21 and Tangbau Hkown Nan Tsin, 20
Date of incident: 19-20 January 2015
Place of incident: Kaung Kha village, Kutkai Township, Northern Shan State, Myanmar
AHRC-UAC-005-2015
On 20 January 2015, two young volunteer school teachers were found dead in their rooms at the Baptist Church in Kaung Kha village, in the Northern Shan State. The two young women, Maran Lu Ra and Tangbau Hkown Nan Tsin, were ethnic Kachin teachers volunteering for the Kachin Baptist Church and had served in Kaung Kha village for two years before they were killed. Their bodies were found by villagers in their room in the dormitory inside the church compound.
The villagers found the bodies bloodied, bearing signs of having been beaten with a blunt instrument. One of the girls had knife wounds on her face and hands. Both women were found naked indicating they could have been sexually assaulted or raped. Their room was in disarray and one of the victim’s hands had strands of hair suggesting a struggle with the perpetrators. A large, bloodstained stick was found near the bodies.
The bodies have been sent to a hospital in Muse for autopsy, but the reports are yet to be published by the Judicial Medical Officer. On the basis of information received from a nurse, it is reported that the doctors found sperm inside the bodies of the victims, and that the specimens needed to be sent to a hospital in Lashio for further investigation.
A few days before the women were killed, an Army battalion had arrived. They were camped 100 metres from the scene of the crime where the women were attacked and killed. While there is no record of them harming these villagers before, the Burmese Army has been accused of perpetrating sexual violence in conflict areas elsewhere. As a result of their reputation and proximity to the crime scene, many people suspect the perpetrators are Burmese soldiers.
Kaung Kha village with some 25 houses is located near the border of the Kachin State. The Burmese military columns pass through the village whenever conflict arises between the army and ethnic Kachin militants.
—————–
Story 2: Man falsely accused of theft dies in police custody
Name of victim: Mr. Ko Zin Aung, 37, son of U Thaung Shwe, resident of No. 7-59, Myo Thit D Quarter, Ywar Ma Road, Bago Township, Bago Region
Names of persons involved:
1. Police officer Yan Naing Aung, Bago No.1 Police Station
2. Constable Myint Zaw, Bago No.1 Police Station
3. Ko Zaw Gyi, accuser
Date of incident: 4th to 7th July 2014
Place of incident: No.1 Bago Township Police Station, Bago Township, Bago. Myanmar
AHRC-STM-153-2014, AHRC-UAC-110-2014-02
Ko Zaw Gyi, who sells fuel for motorcycles at the roadside, accused Ko Zin Aung, a rickshaw driver, of stealing bottles of petrol from his shop. At 8 a.mon 4 July 2014, police officer Yan Naing Aung and constable Myint Zaw arrested Ko Zin Aung without an arrest warrant and without notifying an administrative officer. They handcuffed him and took him to Bago No.1 Police Station, where he was detained for three days without a court order. During this period, they tortured him. No case was filed against the victim in court.
On 7 July 2014, Ko Zaw Gyi called the victim’s brother-in-law, Ko Moss, by phone. Ko Zaw Gyi said the police would send Ko Zin Aung to court and file a case against him, but as the victim was not feeling well they would first send him to Bago General Hospital (BGH). Ma Aye Aye Nwe, the victim’s cousin, together with Ko Moss, went to BGH and found Ko Zin Aung in bed, suffering from spasms. His face, his hands, his back, and his chest were covered with bruises. Ko Zin Aung was in a critical condition.
Ko Zaw Gyi gave 5,000 kyats ($5 USD) to Ko Moss for medical expenses, and 10,000 kyats ($10 USD) to the police to close the theft case. As Ko Zin Aung’s condition worsened, around 8:30 p.m., Ko Moss called Ma Aye Aye Nwe telling her to come to the hospital. Before she arrived, Ko Zin Aung died. In the criminal report, the Forensic Doctor indicated that the victim had died from alcohol poisoning. It is obvious that Ko Zin Aung was tortured in police custody, as can be seen in photos that the family took before the postmortem. Before the police arrested him, he was strong and healthy.
On 18 July, Ma Aye Aye Nwe sent complaint letters to Major General U Win Khaung, Ministry of Border Affairs Head Office, Naypyitaw; Bago Regional Police Commissioner U Mya Win; Bago Regional Minister for Border Affairs Major U Thet Tun; and Bago No.1 Police Station, with photographic evidence of the torture inflicted on her cousin.
The Bago No.1 Police Station replied to the complaint letter on 23 July, claiming that they were sending the case to Bago Township Court under criminal miscellaneous case No.15/2014. On 28 July, three police officers, led by one Police Captain from Waw Police Force, came to Myo Thit Quarter Administrative Office to question Ma Aye Aye Nwe and two others witnesses about what had happened and what they saw.
Although Ko Khin Moe, one of the witnesses, said Ko Zin Aung used to have a few drinks every day after he came back from work, the policewoman who was documenting the case noted that Ko Zin Aung was an alcoholic and drank every day. The team printed the document at Bago No.1 Police Station and returned to get a signature on the document. When the witnesses found that some words in the document were not what they said, they asked for it to be corrected. But, the police refused and forced them to sign. The witnesses were afraid of the police. So they signed the papers.
——————
Story 3: Court removed names of a municipal officer and policemen who tortured a villager from a criminal complaint
Names of victims:
Thet Paing Tun, 19, resident of Paybingyi village, Kangyi Daunk Township
Names of persons involved:
1. U Htay Hlain, 100 household head, Paybingyi village, Kangyi Daunk Township
2. U Zaw Min Htwe, village administrative officer, Paybingyi village, Kangyi Daunk Township
3. U Tun Tun Win, police officer, Kangyi Daunk Police Station Head
4. U Lin Aung, Police Corporal, Kangyi Daunk Police Station
5. U Lin Lin Zaw, Police Lance Corporal, Kangyi Daunk Police Station
Date of incident: 2 July 2014
Place of incident: Paybingyi village, Kangyi Daunk Township, Ayeyawady Region, Myanmar
Cases (against victim): Criminal Case No. 200/2014, Kangyi Daunk Township Court. The case has been dismissed without any charges.
AHRC-UAC-142-2014
On 2 July 2014 around 2 p.m., Thet Paing Tun, who lives in Paybingyi village in Kangyi Daunk Township, was returning from the paddy field where he works. He stopped to watch a billiards game in the village. While he was there, U Htay Hlaing, a 100 household head (a municipality officer), and two other men arrived. They proceeded to handcuff and arrest Thet Paing Tun. When Thet Paing Tun asked them why they were arresting him, they told him that he should already know what he did wrong, but nothing more. Then, they brought him to village administrative officer U Zaw Min Htwe’s office. When he reached to the administrative office, he again asked why he was detained, but he got no answer. One police officer took off his shoe and struck Thet Paing Tun’s cheek with it four or five times. When Thet Paing Tun begged the police not to hit him, the other policeman kicked him in the back several times. As they attacked him in this manner, he coughed up blood. Later, when administrative officer U Zaw Min Htwe saw the blood, he told the police to remove the handcuffs. Then, the household head U Htay Hlaing and U Zaw Min Htwe forced the victim to bow to them and finally released him.
After Thet Paing Tun reached home, he experienced chest pain. His family took him to Pathein General Hospital, where he stayed for 6 days before being discharged. On 7 July 2014, his mother tried to lodge a case against the perpetrators in Kan Ywar Police Station. However, station head police officer Tun Tun Win refused to open a case. The officer apologised on behalf of the perpetrators and offered 10,000 Kyats ($10 USD) for medical expenses. Thet Paing Tun’s mother did not accept the money.
When the police station refused to accept the case, the victim opened a case by direct complaint to Kangyi Daunk Township Court. During the trial process, Kangyi Daunk Township Police Station submitted a letter dated 18 September 2014 that the Myanmar Police Force punished the police who were involved in the crime under Section 22 of the Myanmar Police Force Maintenance of Discipline Law. They requested to have their names removed from both the court record and the criminal case file and the court did so.
On 2 October 2014, the court decided to dismiss the case. It said that it could not find evidence that the household head and administrative officer had been involved in beating the victim, and that the police had been punished in accordance with the Myanmar Police Force Maintenance of Discipline Law.
——————
Story 4: Torture of a 13-year-old boy
Names of victims: Soe Lin, now 14 years old
Residents of Nawaday Road, Myayatana Quarter, Myaung Mya Township, Ayeyawaddy Region,Myanmar
Names of perpetrators:
Police Inspector Kyawt Han
Other police personnel from Myaung Mya Police Station
Date of incident: 23 July 2013 (date of arrest) to present
Place of incident: Myaung Mya Township Police Station, Ayeyawaddy Region, Burma
AHRC-UAC-119-2014
Soe Lin is unable to walk without assistance because of torture by police personnel in Myaung Mya Township Police Station. On 23 July 2013, one U Kyaw Wai was murdered in the Aung Pan salt factory where he worked. Soe Lin and his father were accused of murdering the man and were arrested that day. A few days later, Soe Lin’s mother and 9-year-old sister were also arrested and taken to the police station for interrogation. The mother and daughter remained in custody for two days.
For almost three weeks, Soe Lin and his father were not allowed to meet with family or relatives. In all, the police detained Soe Lin and his father for one month without a warrant or court order. The police interrogated Soe Lin in custody and attempted to get him to admit that he killed the man. He denied killing anybody, talking with the man, or visiting his house. After questioning him for three days he continued to maintain his innocence, so they began torturing him.
The methods of torture used on the boy included using a lighter to burn his face around his eyes, burning his fingers with cigarettes causing his fingernails to fall off, forcing him to kneel on coarse gravel for an extended period of time, denying him food and water, holding his head underwater, and various beatings that eventually caused bleeding from his ears and blood in his urine. This torture continued for a month and was conducted at least in part by Township Police Commander Inspector Kyawt Han. As a result, the victim is having difficulty breathing, walking, and relieving himself.
When Inspector Kyawt Han filed the case against Soe Lin, he wrote the boy’s age as 16 even though he knew that the boy was 13 years old. During the court hearing, the headmaster of the boy’s primary school came to court to prove the boy’s real age as 13 years and 10 months old. Because the boy is a minor, the case was transferred to a juvenile court in Ein-me Township and he has been released on bail.
According to his clinic doctor, the boy cannot even stand on his own due to pain in his lower vertebra and pelvis. The doctor said that the government should provide medical treatment at a hospital for the boy because he was harmed while in custody. However, the government has not offered any such treatment.
————-
Story 5: Assault and inhuman treatment of a group of transgender people
Name of victim:
Eleven persons
Date of incident: 7 July 2013
Place of incident: Outside the Sedona Hotel in Mandalay, Myanmar
Alleged perpetrators: About 20 men in civilian dress—some police, local administrators or unidentified persons
On 7 July 2013 a group of some 20 men in civilian dress—some police, local administrators or other unidentified persons—descended on the area outside the Sedona Hotel in Mandalay. They assaulted a group of gay and transgender people there. There was pushing, hitting, handcuffing, and pulling off their garments in public before loading them into a number of vehicles.
Once in custody, police continued to abuse the 11 detainees. Physical and psychological demeaning behaviour included: constant hitting and kicking, stripping them naked in the public areas of the Mandalay Regional Police headquarters, photographing them, forcing them to hop like frogs, making them clean shoes and tables, walk up and down as if on a catwalk, and uttering obscenities at them. One of those detained said that a police officer interrogated her at length about her sexual activities and preferences, where she usually hangs out. Later he tried to lure her to come with him after leaving the police station.
Although many of those detained were released without charge, some have been threatened, and others charged underthe 1945 Police Act, section 35(c). This Act stipulates that, “Any person found between sunset and sunrise having his face covered or otherwise disguised, who is unable to give a satisfactory account of himself… may be taken into custody by any police-officer without a warrant, and shall be punishable on conviction with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months.”
In one case, two accused each had to pay bribes of around 400,000 Kyat (about USD420) to be released from a case under this section lodged by the police in the Aungmyay-thazan Township Court. They were informed that for a lesser amount of money they could be held for just one week instead of the full three-month period. Equally disturbing is that some of those who are being released are being forced to sign pledges beforehand that they will not go to public places as they previously did or wear women’s clothing.
Some of the gay and transgendered people detained and tortured in Mandalay intend to lodge complaints against their abuse with the authorities, including the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission.
————–
Story 6: Torture of a couple for allegedly stealing gold
Names of victims:
1. Ko Nan Win, husband of second victim, aged 26
2. Ma Than Than Aye, wife of first victim, deceased at age 28, while two months pregnant
Residents of Thabyebin Village, Bassein Township, Ayeyawady Region, Myanmar
Names of persons involved:
1. Inspector Kyi Lin, station chief, Thinbawgyin Police Station, Pathein
2. Sub-Inspector Naing Aung Kyaw, crime investigator, Thinbawgyin Police Station
3. Police Sergeant Kyi Lin, Thinbawgyin Police Station
4. Police Corporal Ne Htun, Thinbawgyin Police Station
5. Police Corporal Zaw Min Htun, Thinbawgyin Police Station
6. Police Lance Corporal Kyaw Lin Naing, Thinbawgyin Police Station
7. Police personnel at the Bassein Township Police Headquarters (Myetto Camp) & Athegyi Camp
8. Dr. U Myint Aung
Date of incident: 30 May 2013 and subsequently
Place of incident: Ayeyawady Region, Myanmar
Case details (against victim):
1. Criminal Case No. 1619/2014, Bassein Township Court, Penal Code section 380, case brought by Daw Myint Myint, acquitted on 30 July 2014, Township Judge U Aung Myin presiding
AHRC-UAC-128-2014, AHRC-STM-080-2015
At the end of May 2013 a police unit arrested Ko Nan Win after a quantity of gold went missing from a house where he had been doing work in his village in Bassein, a part of Burma’s delta region. The police allegedly tortured him to admit to the crime, including stringing him from a beam and kicking and punching him. When he refused to admit guilt, a policeman said that they would kill him. He said he would not let the police kill him and then attempted to commit suicide by using a sharp instrument on his throat.
The police made no progress in the case against Nan Win, so, on June 11 they arrested his wife, Ma Than Than Aye, for alleged involvement in the crime. They interrogated her at a number of locations until June 17, allegedly torturing her. Throughout this time both she and her husband were held illegally while their relatives were refused access to them.
Then on June 17 the police took the wife, Than Than Aye, by boat to search for the hidden gold. They reportedly looked in three locations and recovered nothing. According to witnesses, at the time of the search a police officer leading the unit, Sub-Inspector Naing Aung Kyaw, kept beating her.
On their return, as the group was nearing Bassein around 7pm on June 17 it was dark. Then, Than Aye, who was two months pregnant, allegedly jumped from the vessel on the Ngawun River and drowned. After Than Aye’s body was recovered, clear photographs taken show that her hands were cuffed behind her back, one leg was cuffed and chained. This casts doubt on the police story that she would dive into the water when unable to swim.
Subsequently, due to lack of evidence against Ko Na Win, the Bassein Township Court acquitted him.
After an investigation by higher officers, action was taken against the police involved under a disciplinary law. Sub-Inspector Naing Aung Kyaw was suspended from his post and given a one-year custodial sentence. His subordinates were all demoted one rank.
————-
Story 7: Police claim a man in their custody died by hitting himself
Name of victim: U Than Htun, 42, resident of Kyar Inn Block (New),Dandalun Tract, Pandaung Township, Pyay District, Bago Region, Myanmar.
Names of persons involved:
1. U San Lin, Chief, Pandaung Township Police Station
2. Sub-Inspector Nay Lin Aung
3. Sub-Inspector Aung Naing
4. Sub-Inspector Hla Min
5. Constable July Moe
All of Pandaung Township Police Station
Date of incident: 22 May 2013
Place of incident: Pandaung Township Police Station, Pyay, Myanmar
Court cases:
1. Post-mortem inquiry: Criminal (Minor) Case No 27/2013, Pandaung Township Court (Nan Yin May, Township Judge), order passed 12 July 2013; Criminal Revision Case No 249 (A)/ 2013, Bago Region High Court (Kyi Thein, Judge), order passed 7 October 2013
2. Application for prosecution of police: Criminal Case No 238/2013, Pandaung Township Court, application rejected 28 May 2013; Criminal Revision Case No 48/2013, Pyay District Court (Hla Thein, Deputy District Judge, Pyay District Court), application rejected 10 July 2013
AHRC-UAC-098-2013, AHRC-UAU-002-2014, AHRC-STM-016-2014, ALRC-CWS-27-09-2014
U Than Htun was tortured to death while detained in police custody in Pyay, Myanmar. Although, the police officers claimed that the victim died from hitting himself with an iron pole during interrogation due to the effects of alcoholism, the doctor confirmed that none of the organs of the deceased were in a condition that would cause his death. The post mortem examination showed that the skin on his two wrists was ripped open due to prolonged handcuffing. Death was caused by Haemothorax-bleeding inside the lung caused by broken ribs on his right side and trauma.
Due to the death, the victim’s wife, Daw Myint Htay, opened a case against the commander of the police station. Her complaint was lodged at the Pandaung Court. The judge issued an order saying that they have not obtained a permission from the higher authority to sue the police, and dismissed the complaint. She also applied to the Pyay District Court. They handed down the same decision as the Pandaung Court, dismissing her case on the same day that she applied.
Meanwhile, the township court also conducted a post-mortem inquiry under criminal procedure. It found that there was not enough evidence to show that the death was unnatural. But, in the Bago Region High Court, the judge overturned the order. He said that the death was not natural and that it had been caused by someone.
Although the high court gave a decision that the death was not natural, it did not give any order for action by the lower courts or the police. In the end, there was no action taken on the case at all.
————
Story 8: Court obeys police order to dismiss charges against police torturer
Names of victims:
1.Myint Lwin
2. Ohn Lay
Both residents of Pyin Bon village, Nattalin township, Bago Region, Myanmar
Names of persons involved:
1.Police Sergeant Kyi Soe Tun, Serial No. La/181198, Pyin Bon police post, under Taung Nyo Police Station, Nattalin Township,along with 4-5other police personnel, as follows
2.Constable Tin Tun Aung
3. Constable Win Naing Tun
4. Constable Nay Myo Aung
5. Constable Zaw Win Htut
6. U Win Soe, head, General Administration Department, Pyin Bon Village, Nattalin Township
7. U Ye Aung, head of ten-households, Pyin Bon Village, Nattalin Township
8. U Tin Win, head of ten-households, Pyin Bon Village, Nattalin Township
Date of incident: 7 January 2013 (date of arrest)
Place of incident: Pyin Bon village, Nattalin Township, Tharyarwaddy District, Bago Region, Myanmar
Case details:
1. Criminal Case No. 63/2013, Nattalin Township Court, Penal Code section 323/114, Nattalin Township Court, against the police, case closed 28 March 2013
2. Criminal Appeal Case No. 19/2013, Thayawaddy District Court, appeal dismissed on 10 June 2013
3. Criminal Revision Case No-/2013, Bago Region High Court
4. Writ of Certiorari lodged in Supreme Court
AHRC-UAC-003-2014
On 7 January 2013, four policemen from Taung Nyo Police Station together with Police Sergeant Kyi Soe Tun and U Win Soe, head, General Administration Department, Pyin Bon Village, Nattalin Township assaulted, handcuffed and arrested Myint Lwin and Ohn Lay in Myint Lwin’s house around 7pm without any warrant or a complaint. According to Myint Lwin’s brother, Kyaw Lwin, when he asked the police not to assault his brother, the administration head threatened to arrest him too.
The police say that they had to take down the two men roughly because they resisted arrest. It was said that Myint Lwin threatened them with a knife. Both were detained illegally for 17 days. Following this, the Nattalin Township court imposed a movement restriction order of six months on the two villagers.
Kyaw Lwin sued Police Sergeant Kyi Soe Tun along with 4-5 other police personnel and U Win Soe for harming his brother. Nattalin Township Court opened the case and started to examine it. A decision was made by the judge to hear the case under Penal Code sections 323/114. But, the commander of Nattalin Township Police sent a letter to the court. He said that as the accused are police officers, action should be taken against them under the Police Maintenance of Discipline Law. Therefore, the Nattalin Court decided not to continue to examine and closed the case on 28 March 2013.
The plaintiff was not satisfied with the decision of the Nattalin Township Court because the Police Maintenance of Discipline Law is not a criminal law. He made appeals to the higher courts but so far has not been successful. Currently, the case is with the Supreme Court.
——–
Story 9: Man dies in police custody
Name of victim: Myo Myint Swe (alias Kalar Gyi, Pyi Soe, Hnin Si), 39, carpenter and labourer, resident of New Dagon (East) Township, Yangon
Names of persons involved:
1. Sub-Inspector Tin Naing Zaw, Bayinnaung Police Station (investigating officer), Yangon
2. Inspector Ngwe Soe, Commander, Bayinnaung Police Station (inquest officer)
3. Police Lieutenant Colonel Myo Aung, Commander, Northern District Police Force, Yangon
4. Police Captain Kyaw Zin Win, Commander, Mayangone Township Police Force, Yangon
5. Doctor Ye Win, Crimes Doctor, Insein Hospital
Date of incident: 5 July 2012
Place of incident: Top floor of Mayangone Township Police Station, Yangon, Myanmar
Death inquest: Criminal Miscellaneous Case No. 161/2012, Mayangone Township Court, Township Judge Daw Aye Mya Theingi presiding
AHRC-UAC-176-2012, AHRC-UAU-010-201
On 8 July 2012 Myo Myint Swe was tortured to death during interrogation while in police custody in Yangon, Myanmar. Police informed his family that his death was due to illness. The doctor who conducted the post-mortem recorded that he had died of a heart attack. However, the family found out that he had been tortured. They are appalled that the doctor is conspiring with the police to prevent a criminal case being opened against the killers.
When the death inquest was held in court, it was registered as a natural death, not as a murder. But, the inference of the court that the death was unlikely to have been from natural causes, leads to the conclusion that someone was responsible for this death.
The Myanmar Police Force took action against the officers involved in the murder under the Myanmar Police Maintenance of Discipline Law, enacted on 26 April 1995. According to an article in The Daily Eleven News, in May 2013, three police officers were dismissed and five others were demoted and detained, and one, who was not identified in the news article, was transferred to another station.
The victim’s family members do not know where the accused were sent or what punishment they received. In addition, the Yangon Regional Parliament sent a letter to the Chairman of the National Parliament referring to the Public Complaint and Appeal Committee’s letter on this case. Contents of this letter explained that the officers who tortured Myo Myint Swe had been punished under the Myanmar Police Maintenance of Discipline Law.
No further legal action has been taken according to the criminal law of the country. Although the victim’s family have made complaints to all the ministries concerned with the case, they have received no information at all.
——–
Story 10: A court judge replaced for refusing to record a forced confession
Details of victim: Lahtaw Brang Shawng, 25, daily wage labourer, father of three children residing in building 2 of the Jan Mai Kawng relief camp for internally displaced people affected by fighting in Kachin State, Myitkyina
Details of alleged perpetrators: Number 1 Police Station chief, Myitkyina Township, Ward Officer U Maung Maung; Captain Kyaw Swa Lin, Military Affairs Security; Police Sub-Inspector U Aung Mya Than, attached to district police command, and other police and military intelligence personnel
Date of arrest: 17 June 2012, 9pm
Details of case brought against victim: Myitkyina Township Court, Criminal Case No. 1199/2012, case brought by Captain Kyaw Swa Lin, Judge U Myint Htoo presiding; charged under section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act, 1907; first hearings on 4 and 11 July 2012
AHRC-UAC-132-2012
On the night of 17 June 2012 a group of ten men led by a police station chief and a civilian official came to a relief camp for people affected by armed conflict in Kachin State and told Lahtaw Brang Shawng that they needed to question him over three explosions. They handcuffed him and took him away, promising to let him go in 24 hours if they were satisfied that he had no involvement in the crimes. Instead, they sent him to a military intelligence facility where he was held incommunicado and severely tortured.
The methods of torture allegedly used included holding the flat side of a hot knife to his face, hitting his head with bamboo, stabbing his thighs, and running a bamboo roller along the back of the thighs. Brang Shawng said that an intelligence officer threatened to kill him, ordering him to dig his own grave.
On June 20 officers brought Brang Shawng back to the relief camp to force him to do a re-enactment of the crimes to be used against him in court. People who saw him at the camp said that he had visible injuries, including bruises and swelling all over his body.
After one week Brang Shawng’s case was brought to court for the first time, where a judge remanded him in custody. On June 28, he was brought to court to make a confession with the same judge. When the judge saw that Brang Shawng had a black eye, he asked him how it happened. Brang Shawng replied that he had fallen from a motorcycle. Because it did not look like a motorcycle accident injury, the judge asked him to lift up his shirt where he saw that a recording device had been taped to the defendant’s body. He had photographs taken of the device and then refused to record a confession.
This was an obvious effort to set up a confession, ensuring that the defendant told what he had been tutored to tell the judge. On the next day, officials brought Brang Shawng back to court. A new judge was on the bench and recorded the confession. Brang Shawng was then confined in the town prison in solitary confinement.
Members of a church group that visited him have called for his release. The armed group with which he is supposed to be involved, the Kachin Independence Army, denied his affiliation.
——–
Story 11: Soldiers torture cattle traders they suspect as rebels
Names of victims:
1. Laphai Gan, currently detained in Myitkyina Prison, Kachin State, Myanmar
2. Baran Yaun, currently detained in Myitkyina Prison
Names of persons involved:
1. Inspector Thein Win, station chief, Police Station No. 1, Myitkyina
2. Inspector Ye Lwin, Police Station No. 1, Myitkyina
3. Sub-Inspector Kyaw Myo Naing (investigator)
4. Inspector Aung Mya Than (investigator)
5. Sub-Inspector Myo Win Naing (investigator)
6. Sub-Inspector Win Shwe (investigator)
7. Inspector Yan Aye
8. Captain Soe Paing, Military Affairs Security platoon, Northern Command HQ, Myitkyina, and personnel
9. Personnel of Infantry Battalion (IB) 37 and People’s Militia
Date of incident: 9 June 2012 to the present
Place of incident: Myitkyina, Kachin State, Myanmar
Case details (against victims):
1. Criminal Case No. 1213/2012, Myitkyina Township Court, under section 17(1) of the 1908 Unlawful Associations Act, sentenced to two years in prison on 15 November 2013, Township Judge Myint Htoo presiding; Criminal Appeal No. 126/2013, Myitkyina District Court; Criminal Revision No. 27/2014, Kachin State High Court; Criminal Revision No. 275(b)/2014, Supreme Court, all applications for appeal and revision denied
2. Criminal Case No. 200/2012, Myitkyina District Court, under section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act, sentenced to five years in prison, Deputy District Judge Ne Lin presiding
AHRC-UAC-137-2014
On 9 June 2012 patrolling army troops and paramilitary personnel arrested Lahpai Gan and Baran Yaun near Talawgyi Village on a general suspicion. They, along with three cattle traders, were having lunch, taking a break from driving cattle. Recently there had been a battle in the area with members of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). The troops took the men back to the village, assaulted them and detained them in the Buddhist monastery compound. After three days, they took them by boat at night, to the Talawgyi Police Station, and from there, to Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.
On June 14 Captain Soe Paing of military intelligence took charge of the men. At the army’s Northern Command Headquarters he had them assaulted to the point of drawing blood, tortured and threatened into admitting to being KIA soldiers. Methods of torture used included techniques commonly reported in Myanmar. They included common assault, being forced to kneel on gravel for extended periods, forced simulated or actual homosexual intercourse, burning of genitals with candles, and burning the skin with the blade of a hot knife. A particular method was developed for cases concerning Kachin people accused of involvement in the KIA. It involved using a stress position where the detainee is forced to stand imitating Christ crucified on the cross since Kachin are predominantly Christian.
After the three traders were released, on the basis of illegal detention and interrogation, Captain Soe Paing, on 26 June 2012, handed the other two men over to the police. They were taken to the Kachin State Police Reserve Force premises where they were interrogated further. Subsequently, Inspector Ye Lwin lodged a case in court, for being members of an unlawful association, against Laphai Gan and Baran Yaun and four other men. Two of the four had also been detained in Talawgyi and tortured by military intelligence, and two were not in custody.
Then, in the six months that this case was being heard, another police officer, Inspector Thein Win, opened a second case against Lahpai Gan and Baran Yaun over a mine blast outside the Myitkyina district office, causing damage to property but no casualties. Although his investigation had found five other men responsible for the crime, he had failed to detain any of them and prosecuted these two accused in their stead.
In court, a police witness for the prosecution, Inspector Yan Aye, acknowledged under cross examination that the police had no eyewitnesses to the bombing, and had no evidence to link the two accused men to the crime. They had based their case exclusively on information supposedly obtained during illegal detention and interrogation in the army HQ. Furthermore, the defendants showed the court their scars due to injuries suffered while being tortured. Nevertheless, the court accepted the evidence obtained through the use of torture in illegal detention, in violation of the Evidence Act and Criminal Procedure Code. They released the two other detained accused and convicted Lahpai Gan and Baran Yaun.
The two men have maintained their innocence throughout and have appealed to successive courts to have their convictions overturned but the case has not been reheard in any court.
——–
Story 12: A 19-year-old woman falls off the building while in custody
Names of victims:
1. Nan Woh Phan, aged 19, died in custody
2. Namase Motohiko, a Japanese national and partner of the deceased
Date of incident: 24 March 2012
Place of incident: Kyauktada, Yangon, Myanmar
Alleged perpetrators: Officers attached to the Bureau of Special Investigation
AHRC-STM-124-2012
On 24 March 2012, the Bureau of Special Investigation–an elite semi-autonomous agency under the home affairs ministry, held Woh Phan for questioning at its offices in Kyauktada. It concerned the alleged illegal land and real estate speculation of her partner, a Japanese national. He had conducted transactions with her name on the title deeds. Around 5pm on that day, while in BSI custody, the 19-year-old fell from the fifth floor of the premises and died.
On March 28, Nan Woh Phan’s partner, Namase Motohiko, and lawyer Daw Ei Ei Aung conducted a press conference in which they explained that the BSI had taken Nan Woh Phan on March 21 and had her under continuous interrogation until the day of her death. According to Namase, the BSI had allowed the teenager only two hours sleep per day and had exhausted and psychologically traumatized the young woman as part of their interrogation techniques. The lawyer said that her client had been terrified, had stopped eating and could not even drink water without vomiting. Ei Ei Aung was present when Nan Woh Phan died but said that she could not ascertain whether she fell by accident or jumped deliberately from the building.
Although a special investigatory tribunal had supposedly been established to investigate the case, news of its progress has not been forthcoming. On the other hand, the investigations against Namase continued, and in May, the BSI also arrested and detained him on remand, under section 5(h) of the Emergency Provisions Act, 1950, over alleged tax evasion. On May 17, officer U Than Aye of the BSI opened a case against Namase (Hlaingthayar Police Station, No. La(Pa)521/012). The Emergency Provisions Act is a law that authorities use in politically motivated cases. He was later released.