03.05.2007
Latest Developments about the Attacked Human Rights Defenders
_ reported by Asian Human Rights Commission
Four members of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters (HRDP) group were attacked after midday on April 18 in Oatpone village, west of Rangoon, by a government-organised gang. Two of them, Ko Maung Maung Lay and Ko Myint Naing, were severely assaulted and hospitalised.
Names of victims:
- Ko Myint Naing (a.k.a. Ko Myint Hlaing), member, Human Rights Defenders & Promoters (HRDP), resident of Henzada Township, Yangon Division (injured party; complainant and respondent in criminal cases)
- Ko Maung Maung Lay, member, HRDP (injured party)
- Ko Thaung Sein, member, HRDP (respondent to criminal case)
- Ko Kyaw Lwin, resident of Taluttaw, Henzada Township (respondent to criminal case)
- Ko Mya Sein (respondent to criminal case)
- Ko Win, resident of Oatpone, Henzada Township (respondent to criminal case)
- U Lu Shein, resident of Oatpone (respondent to criminal case)
Alleged perpetrators:
- U Nyunt Oo, Secretary, Township Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), Henzada Township
- Superintendent Htun Htun Win, Acting Station Commander, Myanmar Police Force, Taluttaw village, Henzada Township
- Deputy Superintendent Than Taik, Security Chief, Myanmar Police Force, Taluttaw village, Henzada Township
- Ko Aung Than, Chairman, Kanyinngu Village Tract Peace & Development Council (PDC), Oatpone village, Henzada Township (complainant in criminal case against victims)
- Ko Soe Win, Ten-household Head, Kanyinngu Village Tract PDC
- Ko Win Hlaing, Ten-household Head, Kanyinngu Village Tract PDC
- Ko Sapu, Ten-household Head, Kanyinngu Village Tract PDC
- Ko Htay Win, Executive, Village USDA, Kanyinngu village, Kanyinngu Village Tract
- Ko Than Aung, Resident, Oatpone village, Kanyinngu Village Tract
- Than Kyaw Oo, Resident, Oatpone village, Kanyinngu Village Tract
- Ko Than Oo, Resident, Oatpone village, Kanyinngu Village Tract
- Ko Kyaw Kyaw, Resident, Oatpone village, Kanyinngu Village Tract
On April 20, the HRDP organiser, U Myint Aye, made a written complaint to the
local police chief, in which he accused the local secretary of the government
mass-mobilisation body, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA)
of having coordinated the attack. In the complaint he quotes the head, U Nyunt
Oo, as having shouted to the group he had assembled to "Strike, hit, kill them!"
He said that in addition to the injuries to the two men who could not escape,
the gang stole their possessions, including a digital camera, voice recorder,
watch and cash.
On April 23, the state-run newspapers ran articles against the group in which
they accused it of going to stir up trouble and that villagers had insisted that
"there were no incidents of human rights abuse" in their area. It said that when
the group had gone to Oatpone and the villagers had tried to have them leave a
confrontation had followed but that it was resolved by the authorities and local
abbot.
After the news reports, on April 24 the authorities sent notices to six of the human rights defenders and local villagers that they would be charged with intent to cause a public disturbance. The complaint against them has been lodged by the local village council chairman. The six men have been ordered to appear at the court today, May 2; if found guilty they may be sentenced to jail for up to two years.
Also on May 2, Ko Myint Naing, one of the two men severely assaulted, is lodging a criminal complaint in the Henzada court. In the complaint, in addition to the earlier allegations, he describes how many local council members were among the attackers. He also describes how as he tried to flee the assault he ran towards the local police chief and his head of security, standing and watching at one side. At that time, the latter man himself pulled a slingshot out of his bag and fired a steel pellet into Myint Naing's stomach. He was then again surrounded and had his possessions looted. By this time villagers had assembled to see what was happening, but the perpetrators blocked them from offering assistance. It was not until the abbot of the neighbouring Buddhist monastery came in a pickup truck that the perpetrators dispersed and allowed the monk to ferry them to safety.
In a related development, in the early hours of May 1, two other members of the human rights defenders network, Ko Aye Lwin from Oatpone village and Ko Aung Kyaw Soe of Tharpaung Township, Irrawaddy Division were reportedly arrested where they were staying on 19th Street, Lathar Township, for not being recorded on the overnight guest list -- a requirement of law in Burma that is not ordinarily closely monitored and enforced. The AHRC will provide further information concerning that incident as it comes to hand.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The incident comes at a time of growing unrest in Burma, where in recent weeks there have been a number of protests against rising prices of food and other basic goods, water shortages and electricity outages. In March the AHRC reported on the charge against a Rangoon resident who satirised media reports of improved living conditions in the country. The charge against was the same as that lodged against the group of rights defenders in this case; he was released from the charge after the apparent intervention of the local authorities.
It has also come amid a growing number of alleged assaults on ordinary persons by the police and other government and quasi-government officials. The AHRC has so far issued appeals on only a few of the many detailed reports of such incidents it has received. For instance the beating to death of Ko Naing Oo by council officials, and torture to death of Maung Chan Kun by police.
This most recent attack on human rights defenders in Burma has received a large amount of attention internationally, including from two UN human rights experts. The Special Rapporteur on Myanmar and the Special Representative on human rights defenders made a joint statement in which they said of the incident that "the level of violence and the absence of intervention by the local police to protect the victims... remind us of the circumstances surrounding the tragic incident of Depayin in 2003".
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