Two of four people sentenced to death by a military tribunal in Sagaing Region’s Indaw Township have gone missing and are feared dead, residents say.
One woman and three men were sentenced to death on terrorism charges on August 18. They are: Ko Aung Kyaw Kyaw Moe, Ko Zaw Myo Tun, Ko Kyaw Swar Win and Ma Myint Myint Aye.
A member of local resistance group Indaw Revolution said: “According to judicial procedures, they should be sent to prison after the ruling was made. They should be sent to Katha Prison. But they have not yet been sent there. Ko Kyaw Swar and Ma Myint Myint remain at a junta base outside Indaw. The whereabouts of the other two remain unknown.”
While the four were held at Indaw police station, family members could send food and other necessities to them though they were not allowed to visit them.
Family members were told in July that the four were taken from the police station.
That was the last information they received until August 18 when pro-junta Telegram channels reported that the four were sentenced to death by a military tribunal. Their photos were also displayed on Telegram.
Only one of the four—Ko Aung Kyaw Kyaw Moe—is a resident of Indaw Town.
Ko Kyaw Swar Win and Ma Myint Myint Aye are from Htigyaing Town. They were arrested at junta security checkpoints in Indaw. Ko Zaw Myo Tun is a driver on the Monywa-Myitkyina express bus line. He was arrested in April at a security checkpoint in Indaw while driving from Myitkyina.
A source close to Ko Aung Kyaw Kyaw Moe said: “Only Ko Kyaw Swar Win and Ma Myint Myint Aye are at the junta base.
We don’t know the whereabouts of the other two. We are concerned for their safety as they were given the death sentence.”
Ko Aung Kyaw Kyaw Moe works as a bricklayer and has no ties to the revolution, the source said. He was arrested because junta troops found photos of villages they had torched in his phone.
“Ko Zaw Myo Tun was arrested for allegedly transporting weapons on the bus he drove, [but] there was not one weapon on the bus when he was arrested. Someone who wants to hurt him gave false information to the regime,” said the source.
The regime has been conducting daily checks on those who go in and out of Indaw Town as it steps up security. Junta troops pay special attention to phones. People are arrested and given fines or prison sentences if anything related to the Spring Revolution is found in their phones. At least 10 residents who were arrested over telephone infractions have been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Indaw Township is one of the 14 townships in Sagaing Region where the regime has imposed martial law. Junta troops from the 77th Light Infantry Division are deployed on a hill outside Indaw Town from which they operate security checkpoints. Since the declaration of martial law, the township court was closed, and a military tribunal was set up on the hill.
A member of Indaw Township People’s Defense Force (PDFs) said: “They arrest people if anything related to military or political issues is found in their phones. They also accuse people of supporting PDFs if they can’t give satisfactory answers about money transfers in their mobile wallets. Government employees who have joined the civil disobedience movement are also arrested on trumped-up charges. They are tried at a military tribunal, and given heavy sentences that we have never heard [given] before.”
Military tensions are currently running high in Indaw Township, according to local resistance groups.
