Twenty-two Tortured To Death in Burma’s Detention Camps
By Network Media Group
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
At least twenty-two people died after armed forces tortured them during interrogation in detention camps, according to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), suspecting numbers could be actually higher. Among these cases, the military hasn’t returned three bodies to their families.
Of the twenty-two killed, thirteen died within twenty-four hours of their arrests, four within two days, four within a week and one within two weeks, AAPP reported. All of the bodies returned to their families had wounds consistent with torture. Yet, the junta said they died from illness or other causes.
Khin Marlar Win, 39, (aka Myo Myo Lwin) got down on her knees and begged armed forces not to arrest her at a protest in Pakokku town on March 19. The next day the military junta told her family to collect her body, according to AAPP.
Kyaw Kyaw, 39, (also known as Agga Moe Nyo) was arrested on March 15 and on March 30 he was dead. The military didn’t return his body to his relatives.
The regime killed Zaw Myat Lin, 46, the same night of his arrest in Shwe Pyi Thar Township where he lived. According to eyewitnesses, his head was severely bruised, and his mouth and body broken into pieces.
Armed forces beat protesters, shot at them and ran into them with vehicles before dragged them away bleeding. Many anti-coup protesters couldn’t be recognized after their bodies were returned to their families. For others who made it home alive after surviving countless hours of unbearable torture, they are physically or mentally disabled.
According to AAPP, 863 people were killed during the Spring Revolution between February 1 and June 13, including the 22 who died at the hands of their captors in the camps.
The military is subjecting peaceful protesters to gruelling torture to create “a climate of fear”, AAPP said, calling on the international community to take immediate action against these violent crimes against humanity.