Myanmar: Another dies after being tortured in custody

YANGON, Myanmar

A villager in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state has died days after being interrogated by soldiers, according to media reports and official, bringing the total number of civilian deaths in military custody to 14 over the past few months.

Zaw Win Hlaing, 28, was one of three people who had been arrested on June 20 by military in Rakhine’s Mrauk-U township for their alleged ties to Arakan Army (AA), a predominantly Buddhist ethnic group fighting for greater autonomy of the region.

He had been interrogated by soldiers for four days before being handed over to police station on June 24, according to local news outlet Narinjara.

Zaw Win Hlaing died in hospital in state capital Sittwe on Monday due to injuries he received under the custody of military, Narinjara reported, citing his mother Thein Nu Sein.

“My son was constantly coughing up blood. He said his internal organs were seriously damaged due to the torture by soldiers during four-day interrogation,” she was quoted as saying in the report.

“My son is not AA member. He was unfairly arrested, tortured and killed,” she said.

Family members brought the dead body back from Sittwe to Mrauk-U on Tuesday, said the report.

The fighting between the military and Arakan Army intensified, following the group’s synchronized attacks on police stations in early January that killing 13 personnel.

Oo Hla Saw, an upper house lawmaker who represents Mrauk-U constituency, said the government is responsible to bring justice for victims.

“Military would anyway deny it, but the government must take those responsible into account,” he told Andolu Agency by phone.

Amnesty International said war crimes and other atrocities were being committed by soldiers from the Western Military Command based in Rakhine state, the same military units involved in the 2017 campaign that forced some 750,000 Rohingya to flee across the border to neighboring Bangladesh.

In its report published late May, Amnesty accused the military of carrying out extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, torture and other ill-treatment, and enforced disappearances.

Other communities, including the Rohingya, have also suffered in this campaign, said the report.

It also said the Arakan Army has committed rights violations against civilians, though on a lesser scale.