Junta forces raped three detainees in Mandalay interrogation centre, student activists say

Myanmar army soldiers raped one woman and two men in a junta interrogation centre inside Mandalay Palace, according to a statement released by the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) on Saturday. 

All of the victims were in their 20s, the ABFSU said, but did not reveal details of their arrests or the dates of the alleged sexual assaults. 

The woman described in the statement is an ABFSU member, a spokesperson for the organisation told Myanmar Now. 

“The woman that was raped has several injuries and has been denied medical attention,” the spokesperson said. “We heard that she was also being held alone in an isolation cell at Obo Prison.”

She is said to have been interrogated for months at the centre and has been denied visits with her family or a lawyer, even since her transfer to Obo, a notorious Mandalay-based prison. 

The two men are reportedly not student activists. 

ABFSU is continuing to gather information on the cases, including from sources inside Obo Prison, the organisation’s spokesperson said. 

Voice of Mandalay 3, a Facebook page exposing alleged rights abuses by the military in Mandalay, reported last Friday that a female member of ABFSU who had arrived at Obo Prison at the end of last year had suffered multiple injuries due to a rape in junta custody. Citing testimony from other detainees at the interrogation centre, the page also reported that two men had been raped.

The victims were reportedly blindfolded when the assaults took place.

Myanmar Now is continuing to gather more information on the alleged crimes. 

In January, Myanmar Now reported that junta troops had sexually assaulted three men in their 20s with bamboo sticks during their interrogation at Mandalay Palace after their arrests in July and September. The men, all ABFSU members, were denied medical help following the attacks.