Mon Leaders Call for Charges in Alleged Torture Case

By Lawi Weng 8 June 2012

Mon community leaders including Buddhist monks have expressed anger over the Mon State government’s failure to investigate the case of a man who was left paralyzed after allegedly being beaten and tortured by two police officers in Chongzone Township.

Members of the state parliament from the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMDP) said they had called on the government to indict the officers on charges of abuse of power, but the state’s chief minister, Ohn Myint, ignored their demands.

The officers are accused of torturing 24-year-old Htet Paing Soe while interrogating him in connection with a murder case. The police admitted him to a hospital in Moulmein on May 19 after detaining him for two days, according to his family.

“We did a small interrogation, but I don’t know all the details,” said Kyaw Min, a police sergeant from Chongzone Township who spoke to The Irrawaddy by phone on Friday.

The man’s family said that the ordeal had left him unable to use his hands or legs. They added that the police offered to cover all medical expenses and pay 250,000 kyat (around US $300) in compensation, as well as drop all charges in the murder case.

Nai Aot Jae, a rights activist in Moulmein, said that the victim’s condition has not improved even after three weeks in the hospital, so his family had him transferred to a hospital in Rangoon yesterday.

“I learned that the two police who did this are still out in public because the authorities have not taken action against them. We are not satisfied with this,” said Dr. Aung Naing Oo, a state MP from Chongzone Township and a member of the AMRDP.