Myanmar’s Shadow Government Prepares Evidence of Junta War Crimes
By The Irrawaddy 13 September 2021
Myanmar’s junta has committed massacres and war crimes in Sagaing Region by murdering about 112 people within three months, according to the Human Rights Ministry of the civilian National Unity Government (NUG).
Evidence of junta massacres and war crimes will be submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council this month, U Aung Myo Min, the NUG’s human rights minister, posted on Facebook.
Myanmar’s junta killed at least 216 people in the region between March and August, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which is compiling deaths and arrests.
The rights ministry said in July alone the regime committed a series of massacres and war crimes, killing 103 people in Kani, Depayin and Mingin townships in Sagaing Region.
In Kani Township, around 43 people, including a child, were killed in junta massacres during military operations.
The rights ministry said four civilians were tortured and killed in Shinoretat village in Kani Township on July 1.
Another 16 villagers were killed by junta forces in Yin village on July 11 to 12 and more than 23 villagers and civilian resistance fighters, including a disabled person, were tortured and killed at Zee Pin Twin and Htoo villages on July 26 and 27.
The NUG has already reported the junta massacres in Kani to the UN Security Council in August.
U Aung Myo Min told The Irrawaddy last month that willful killing, torture of unarmed civilians and the intentional, excessive use of force constitute war crimes.
Nineteen people, including resistance fighters, were murdered by junta forces in Mingin Township in July.
Eleven out of 57 detained members of the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) were reportedly killed by junta forces in detention, according to the rights ministry.
A junta massacre, leaving more than 40 civilians dead, including several children, was reported in Depayin Township in early July.
During the raids on villages, junta forces used artillery against civilian targets and reportedly opened fire on villagers fleeing for the forests.
In the massacre, six wounded resistance fighters, left behind by retreating civilian combatants, were shot in the head by the soldiers.
Villagers were also shot dead by junta troops the next day when they returned to look for the dead and wounded.
At the time a villager told The Irrawaddy that looting civilian property and shooting at fleeing civilians were human rights violations.
After the declaration of the people’s war against the junta by the NUG on September 7, junta forces have escalated inspections and arrests but also violence and raids, including burning down villages across the country, especially in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Kayah State.
Meanwhile, the PDFs across the country have stepped up operations targeting junta forces and junta-owned telecom masts.
By Saturday, 1,080 people had been killed by junta forces across the country, the AAPP said.
Almost 8,050 people, including elected government leaders, have been detained by the junta or face arrest warrants.
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