Seeking justice in the wake of Myanmar’s coup

Seeking justice in the wake of Myanmar’s coup

The country’s military leaders have acted with impunity for decades, but now there is a mechanism to bring them to justice

Nationwide protests against the coup have been responded with murders, torture and mass arrests by the military regime. (Myanmar Now)

On March 8, U Ko Ko Lay, a 62-year-old teacher, bled to death on a street in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina. He had been shot in the head while protesting the military coup of February 1. That same night, U Zaw Myat Lynn, an official from the National League for Democracy, was taken from his home in Shwepyithar on the outskirts of Yangon and tortured to death. The list keeps growing.

In the more than six weeks since Senior General Min Aung Hlaing seized power, images of soldiers and police officers shooting, beating, and arresting protesters have flooded social media and Myanmar and international news outlets. So far, the regime’s forces have killed well over 200 people (more than half of them in the past week) and seriously injured many more. The junta has also arrested nearly 2,200 people, some of whom, like U Zaw Myat Lynn, have died in custody.

Each day, Myanmar human rights organizations update lists with names, dates, locations, and causes of death. Around 600 police and a handful of soldiers have decided they do not want to be involved in such actions. They have left their posts and even joined the anti-coup movement.

Many soldiers, police officers, and commanding officers are acting with impunity now. But they can face prosecution, not only in Myanmar’s courts but also internationally. Like any country, Myanmar is subject to international law. Because of its history of atrocities, most recently against the Rohingya people, Myanmar is also already subject to special international legal proceedings that apply to the current situation.

 

 

The most relevant is the United Nations’ Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). The IIMM was created in 2018 after the Myanmar military’s brutal campaign against the Rohingya people, but it applies to the whole country. Its mission is to investigate “international crimes” from 2011 to the present.

International crimes are generally defined as “widespread and systematic” in nature, involving many victims and locations. These include crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.

 

 

In keeping with its mandate, the IIMM is collecting information on the current situation. In a statement released on February 11 (available in Myanmar here), it highlighted the “use of lethal force against peaceful protesters and the detention of political leaders, members of civil society and protesters.”

More recently, on March 17, the IIMM also called on recipients of illegal orders to share this evidence so that those ultimately responsible for these crimes can be held accountable.

"The persons most responsible for the most serious international crimes are usually those in high leadership positions. They are not the ones who physically perpetrate the crimes and often are not even present at the locations where the crimes are committed,” the head of the IIMM, Nicholas Koumjian, says in the statement (available in Myanmar here).

The crimes the IIMM investigates could be tried in Myanmar courts, courts in other countries, or international courts. International crimes are crimes that are so serious that they are considered to be against the international community, and are therefore not limited to courts in one country.

In other words, an international crime committed in Myanmar—for example, widespread and systematic attacks on civilians—can be tried in a court in another country or in an international court.

The Myanmar military is used to getting away with murder. Decades of well-documented killing, rape, and torture of civilians in ethnic minority areas have gone unpunished. No one has ever been tried for the killing of protesters during previous mass uprisings against military rule in 1988 and 2007.

But this time may be different. On March 4, the International Commission of Jurists said in a statement that “the killing of peaceful protesters by Myanmar’s security forces should be independently investigated as possible crimes against humanity.”

The IIMM is already set up and working. It provides a mechanism for just such an investigation. Those doing the shooting should be aware of this.

For further information:

The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) on Facebook

International Accountability Mechanisms for Myanmar (learning materials in English, Myanmar, and Karen)

Lin Htet is a pen name for a team of Myanmar and international writers

A village under siege after a day of deadly violence

Chaunggyi, about 100km north of Mandalay, was tense on Tuesday, a day after coming under brutal assault by regime forces

 

Myanmar Now
Published on Mar 17, 2021
A resident of Chaunggyi, in Mandalay region’s Thabeikkyin township, is seen after being shot by soldiers on March 15. (Supplied)

Chaunggyi, a village in Mandalay region’s Thabeikkyin township, was in a state of fear on Tuesday as regime forces continued to pressure residents a day after inflicting a deadly crackdown.

At least five people were reported dead in the village, located about 100km north of Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay, following Monday’s brutal assault.

The attack began in the afternoon, when soldiers in five army trucks heading south from the town of Thabeikkyin opened fire in Chaunggyi and other villages in the area.

“They mainly hit Chaunggyi and two nearby villages as they were passing through,” a member of a local aid group told Myanmar Now.  

One of the five who died instantly was a 15-year-old girl.

“The girl was shot in the chest. She was killed in her own home,” said the aid worker, adding that around 25 others suffered injuries, some of them life-threatening.

Reinforcements sent

The soldiers who carried out the initial attack were soon joined by reinforcements sent north from Singu, according to local sources. 

Residents of Nweyon, a village in Singu township, attempted to block the military vehicles as they headed towards Chaunggyi, but soon came under fire themselves, the sources said.

Those who had been shot in Chaunggyi remained in the village overnight without medical care amid fears of facing further violence.

“We were afraid to send the injured to the hospital last night. We were also afraid to go to Mandalay. We didn’t send them to a hospital in the city until this morning,” a resident of Nweyon told Myanmar Now on Tuesday.

“One person who was shot in the groin was in terrible condition,” she said, adding that the victim’s family had no money to pay for hospitalization.

There were also around 14 arrests in Chaunggyi and an unknown number in neighbouring villages, local sources said.

Threats and intimidation

A day after their unprovoked attack, the soldiers returned to Chaunggyi on Tuesday to recover some lost property. 

“They said they came back to search for a gun and some bullets they left behind yesterday,” said a Chaunggyi villager.

“They found the gun, but not the bullets. They told us we had five hours. If we didn’t find the bullets in that time, they said they would shoot the entire village,” he added.

They found the bullets at around 5pm on Tuesday and returned them to the soldiers, who were stationed just outside the village.

Meanwhile, the villagers said that a monk who negotiated with the soldiers for the release of those who had been detained has not returned since he was sent to collect them.

“Our monk spoke with them and they promised to release those they had arrested from the village. But the car that went to fetch them hasn't come back,” said Chaunggyi resident Cho Tuu.

Although Singu and Thabeikkyin both have military bases, voters in the two townships overwhelmingly supported the National League for Democracy in last year’s election.

 

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.
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Three teenagers among six killed by regime’s forces in Myingyan on Monday 

Police and soldiers shot at rescue vehicles and the houses of residents who tried to save injured people during the crackdown, witnesses said 

Myanmar Now
Published on Mar 16, 2021
Twenty-year-old Yadanar Htoon was killed during the March 15 crackdown in Myingyan (Supplied)

The coup regime’s forces murdered three teenage boys as they attacked anti-military protesters in the town of Myingyan in Mandalay region on Monday, a doctor and residents said. 

Yan Myo Aung, 16, Aung Myo Zaw, 17, and Tun Ye Naing, 18, were among six people killed in the town and at least 20 fatalities nationwide that day. The other victims from Myingyan were Hla Soe, 53, Yadanar Htoon, 20, and Kyaw Saw, 26. 

Three of the six were confirmed dead on Monday afternoon and another one passed away in the evening at a makeshift outdoors clinic, where doctors on strike from government hospitals were attending to wounded protesters. 

Two more were added to the list of fatalities later in the evening, when the junta’s forces told their family members to come and retrieve the bodies from the Myingyan Hospital. 

“I think two injured people that the military had taken to the hospital died on the spot,” a doctor told Myanmar Now. “One was shot in the head and another one was shot in the left side of the chest. I think the soldiers took the bullets out [of their bodies].”

Myingyan Hospital had been closed because medical staff there joined the Civil Disobedience Movement but it has now been taken over by police and soldiers, the doctor added. 

Just four nurses and one military doctor are working at the hospital, and no patients go there anymore because the entrance is guarded by armed forces, the doctor added. 

At least another 17 people were injured in Monday’s crackdown in Myingyan, and five of those are in critical conditions, said another doctor. 

Yan Myo Aung, the 16-year-old who died, had just finished high school last year and was living with his mother, residents said. 

His mother had been unable to stop him from participating in anti-coup protests because he was so passionate about doing so, a resident who went to his funeral told Myanmar Now.

Aung Myo Zaw had finished 10th grade and was looking forward to the Covid-19 pandemic ending and schools reopening. He was the youngest in a family of seven, all of whom have been participating in anti-coup demonstrations, a relative said.  

Tun Ye Naing was one of the breadwinners in his family and worked delivering cheroots - traditional cigarettes - to local traders, one of his neighbours said.

A protester who was with him at Monday’s rally said he had heard from others who witnessed the killing that a member of the junta’s forces hit Tun Ye Naing’s head against a wall after he was shot and told him he was hard to kill before dragging him away.

“I don’t know if it’s true but there was a blood stain on the wall,” the protester said. “We didn’t see exactly what happened because we were running. We only saw that he was taken away on a truck.”

He was brought to the Myingyan Hospital and his family members retrieved his body at around 7:30pm with the help of charity organizations.

Yadanar Htoon, the 20-year-old victim, is survived by a 3-year-old son and her husband.

Hla Soe, meanwhile, was not participating in the protest when he was killed. He was a vendor and was shot as he tried to close the window of his shop after hearing gunshots, a local resident said. 

During the attack, the junta’s forces fired continuously, making it impossible for rescuers and protesters to carry away wounded people. Vehicles being used in the rescue effort were shot at, residents said.  

The junta’s forces also shot at the houses of residents who helped rescue injured protestors. 

According to estimates by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 183 people have been killed nationwide since the uprising against the coup began. 

The coup regime has also arrested, charged or sentenced more than 2,100 people so far, the association said.  

 

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.
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UN warns of ‘looming threat’ to Myanmar’s poorest as food and fuel prices spike in wake of coup 

Many in Myanmar may soon be unable to put enough food on the table if trends continue, World Food Programme official says 

Myanmar Now
Published on Mar 16, 2021
Opponents of the coup hold a candlelit vigil in Yangon on February 21 for protesters who have been killed and detained (Myanmar Now)

Rising food and fuel prices pose a “looming threat” to the poorest in Myanmar as the political unrest caused by the February 1 coup begins to affect supply chains, the United Nations has warned. 

The organisation’s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that there had been “steep hikes” in the prices of staple goods in northern Rakhine state, with the average cost of cooking oil increasing 27% from January to February.  

The price of pulses in Maungdaw has jumped 15%, while rice prices have spiked by as much as 35% in some townships in Kachin state, such as Bhamo and Putao. Nationwide, rice prices have gone up by an average of 3%, the WFP said. 

And the price of fuel has increased 15% nationwide, which in turn may lead to further food price increases as the cost of transportation balloons. The problem is more severe in northern Rakhine, where petrol prices have jumped by 33% and diesel by 29%.

The WFP collected the data from 250 traders and shops across 70 townships nationwide. 

“These rising food and fuel prices are compounded by the near paralysis of the banking sector, slowdowns in remittances, and widespread limits on cash availability,” the WFP said in a statement. 

The programme’s Myanmar Country Director, Stephen Anderson, said the price increases were “troubling”. 

“Coming on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, if these price trends continue they will severely undermine the ability of the poorest and most vulnerable to put enough food on the family table.”

The WFP is stockpiling food to enable it to keep helping over 360,000 people in Myanmar, most of whom live in displacement camps.

Many parts of Myanmar’s economy have been brought to a standstill by strikes amid a massive popular uprising against the military regime. Foreign trade has virtually halted and banks have been forced to close their branches as employees refuse to work under the dictatorship.  

 

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.
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