It was around 1.30 a.m. on May 23, 2023 at a resistance base in Kantbalu Township in Sagaing Region, central Myanmar. Everyone at the base was in a deep sleep when a loud voice woke them all.
“There is no guarantee of your safety if you want to leave after defying me! You can only leave dead, not alive!” Ye Yint, the 50-year-old chief of the local police station, yelled outside the women’s staff quarters.
Shine Zarni, a 33-year-old female police second lieutenant, trembled as her furious boss howled.
Both police officers had defected from the junta-controlled Home Affairs Ministry after the 2021 coup, and were serving at the No. 2 Prison run by the People’s Security Force (known by the Burmese acronym Pa La Pha) in Kantbalu Township.
The People’s Security Force serves as the police force of the parallel National Unity Government (NUG).
Kantbalu is a district-level township. The NUG controls much of Kantbalu and runs a parallel administration known as the People’s Administration complete with armed forces, law enforcement and judiciary.
Ye Yint had threatened Shine Zarni at least three times before May 23, members of the civilian administration and law enforcement bodies in Kantbalu told The Irrawaddy.
Origin of tensions
Five days earlier, accompanied by two colleagues, Shine Zarni made a routine night check of the prison at around 3.45 a.m. on May 18. Checking the kitchen, where women inmates were kept, the three found Wai Wai, a 25-year-old woman who had been remanded in custody for alleged adultery, sleeping with Ye Yint in the dining area.
According to Shine Zarni, when she asked Wai Wai about it the next morning, she replied: “He told me to sleep with him whenever he asks me to.”
Ye Yint made implied threats against her safety before telling her to sleep with him, Wai Wai was quoted as saying by Shine Zarni, who told The Irrawaddy that her colleagues had also often seen the two sleeping together.
Shine Zarni then put Wai Wai back into a prison cell, citing the law. The move angered Ye Yint. Amid the heightened tensions, Shine Zarni and her two colleagues who joined the prison night check on May 18 submitted their resignations, according to a complaint filed by Shine Zarni with the NUG.
When Shine Zarni submitted her resignation on May 22, Ye Yint reportedly threatened to make a false report to the NUG’s Home Affairs Ministry and have her arrested.
“I will send a Telegram message [to NUG’s Home Affairs Ministry] and tell them that you formed a separate group, set prisoners free and took them with you. You may quit if you dare,” Ye Yint reportedly said, according to Shine Zarni’s complaint.
That night, Ye Yint threatened Shine Zarni from outside the women’s quarters. Pa La Pha members said they heard Ye Yint yelling at her.
Shine Zarni stayed, but finally filed a complaint with the police headquarters of the NUG’s Home Affairs Ministry on June 15, feeling increasingly unsafe.
No action was taken, however. On the night of June 24, Ye Yint forced open the door of the women’s quarters. He was reportedly drunk and cursed Shine Zarni, who fled.
One Pa La Pha member said he heard Ye Yint threatening to kill himself if Wai Wai was not released from the prison cell.
Prisoners
Over 20 prisoners were being kept at No. 2 Prison. All were arrested by the Kantbalu Township Pa La Pha. Seven of them were women.
Male prisoners were kept in a prison made of bamboo. Prisoners who were deemed incapable of escape were required to do prison chores during the daytime. Women prisoners were kept separately, and required to clean and cook during the daytime, according to Pa La Pha members.
More alleged sexual abuses revealed
As an internal investigation into the complaint against Ye Yint proceeded, two more allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual violence at No. 2 Prison emerged.
Complaints filed with the NUG’s ministries claim that Kantbalu District People’s Administration chief Myint Zaw Oo took advantage of his position of power to abuse two women prisoners including Wai Wai, and that senior Pa La Pha member Arkar attempted to rape a woman prisoner. Sources from No. 2 Prison confirmed the allegations.
The two other alleged victims were Win Win, 25, and Yadana, 18. Win Win was a health worker in the public healthcare system who was detained for continuing to work for the regime after the coup. Yadana, a 10th grader, was suspected of being an informant helping the regime commit its Pazigyi massacre—one of the deadliest air raids since the coup, in which more than 160 people were killed in Pazyigyi Village in Kantbalu in April 2023.
Ye Yint and Myint Zaw Oo reportedly forced Wai Wai and Win Win to serve at their nighttime drinking sessions, which were often joined by leaders of the district Pa La Pha and People’s Administration.
The two women had to open liquor bottles, pour liquor, prepare beer snacks and so on for drinkers, whose activities earned No. 2 Prison the nickname the “KTV Pub”.
Myint Zaw Oo denied the allegations. “We are living in the forest. What’s more, it is a prison, and there are security guards. And we can’t go out during specified hours. Those allegations are false,” he told The Irrawaddy.
Arkar was accused of attempting to rape Yadana. He defected from the Myanmar Police Force following the coup and has been serving as a training instructor for the Pa La Pha groups.
A complaint filed with the NUG alleged that Arkar took Yadana to a courtroom near the prison cell at night, and attempted to have sex with her. When she refused, he grabbed her by the throat and slapped her three times in the face.
Myint Zaw Oo insisted that Arkar was innocent. “I am sure it did not happen while we were at the prison,” he said.
The two judges of the NUG’s Kantbalu Township court filed a complaint with the NUG’s Correctional Department in July 2023, asking the department to probe all three allegations. A Pa La Pha member also filed a complaint against Arkar with the NUG’s Ministry of Human Rights in August.
The Irrawaddy reached out to 14 individuals, including the Kantbalu Township Judicial Department, officials of the NUG’s Home Affairs Ministry, and members of the People’s Administration and Pa La Pha, for details.
Most members of the Kantbalu Township People’s Administration and Pa La Pha who spoke to The Irrawaddy requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Affair or sexual misconduct?
There were mixed views about the alleged sexual abuse by Ye Yint. Some Pa La Pha members and higher-ups view it simply as a sexual relationship between two consenting adults. Legal experts however called it sexual misconduct.
The case was discussed during an online meeting of the NUG’s Home Affairs Ministry in July 2023. Some leaders who attended the meeting downplayed the seriousness of the alleged sexual abuse and dismissed it as a “fling”, said a member of the Kantbalu Township People’s Administration.
“It is out of the question. Think of it simply: The women are prisoners, and the men are in positions of authority. There are professional ethics that have to be observed no matter what,” he remarked.
A lawyer helping the NUG in its law enforcement efforts said intimate relationships between people in authority and women prisoners should never be tolerated, even if the relationship is consensual.
“[People in authority] can’t do so, whether the female prisoner consents to it or not. They [the official] have already violated the law by taking a female prisoner out of the prison for sexual purposes. If the woman does not consent, it is a double crime, including rape,” said the lawyer.
Claims of biased investigation
On the orders of the NUG’s Home Affairs Ministry, district Pa La Pha chief Aung Kyaw Moe and Police Major Sun Ye questioned witnesses and detainees in response to Shine Zarni’s complaint.
Joint secretary Daw July of NUG’s Home Affairs Ministry told The Irrawaddy: “We have instructed them to investigate the case, and take punitive action if the allegations are found to be true. We will protect no one who commits injustice.”
Co-investigator Police Maj. Sun Ye told The Irrawaddy he had already submitted the results of the investigation to the NUG’s Home Affairs Ministry, but declined to provide further details about the report. Daw July said she had no knowledge of the report, however.
No one among the complainants, the Pa La Pha chief and the judges of Kantbalu Township have been informed of the results of the investigation, or whether any punitive action was taken against the accused.
Kantbalu Township Pa La Pha chief Thurein questioned the impartiality of the investigation, claiming that lead investigator Aung Kyaw Moe has close ties with all three alleged suspects, and often drank with them.
Aung Kyaw Moe was with Ye Yint when the latter broke open the door of the women’s quarters and threatened Shine Zarni, according to Thurein.
“The complaint said Wai Wai had to sleep with Ye Yint whenever he demanded it. An investigation was launched, but there was no result. I could not talk to the investigation team, and they told me nothing about what they found,” said Thurein.
U Paw Tun, one of the two judges in Kantbalu, said the investigation existed on paper only. “The district Pa La Pha leaders and the accused are friends. There was no actual investigation,” he said.
Ye Yint reportedly continued to threaten Shine Zarni after the investigation, and she filed another complaint with the Ministry of Human Rights on Aug. 11. There was no response, however.
Myint Zaw Oo said he was questioned by Daw July and the secretary of the Ministry of Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs about his alleged sexual abuse of Win Win.
“I told them they can interrogate me if they have evidence, but I won’t accept it if they interrogate me based on assumptions,” he said.
There has been no investigation into the allegations against Arkar.
The two judges of the NUG’s Kantbalu Township Court filed a complaint with the NUG’s Correctional Department in July 2023 asking it to promptly conduct a transparent investigation into all three allegations. When asked about it by The Irrawaddy, an official of the Kantbalu Township Correctional Department replied that the complaint section was handling the cases, but declined to provide details.
“[Shine Zarni] witnessed the sexual abuse by Ye Yint, but only a nominal investigation was carried out in response to her complaint. [Ye Yint] has made death threats,” said judge U Joker James of Kantbalu Township.
When asked about the case by The Irrawaddy, NUG Human Rights Affairs Minister U Aung Myo Min said he could not answer questions regarding matters of law.
While alleged victims can’t file complaints by themselves, the NUG should carry out a transparent investigation, a lawyer pointed out. “The result of the investigation must be made public,” he said.
Following the investigation, all the female prisoners from No. 2 Prison were transferred to No. 1 Prison, and the women’s prison cell and the mess area were demolished.
Thurein said his deputy ordered the transfer of female prisoners to No. 1 Prison without his knowledge. “All the women prisoners were transferred. I don’t know why. They didn’t report to me,” said Thurein.
Thurein’s deputy is a close friend of Myint Zaw Oo and Ye Yint, according to sources close to No. 2 Prison.
It has been around 10 months since the complaints were filed with the NUG’s ministries. The investigation was not transparent and there has been no punitive action against the three accused—Myint Zaw Oo, Ye Yint and Arkar.
In October 2023, Ye Yint was transferred to a new police station in a village near the No. 2 Prison. Myint Zaw Oo remains the head of Kantbalu district and township People’s Administration. Arkar was taken to another base by Aung Kyaw Moe.
Shine Zarni resigned in July last year in response to threats from her former boss. It is not clear if she was transferred to another department. The two colleagues who helped her file a complaint against Ye Yint were transferred to other areas.
The lack of a transparent investigation into allegations of sex abuse by local resistance leaders undermines the trust of local people in the NUG, its interim administration and the judiciary, said Kantbalu Township judge U Paw Tun. He suggested the NUG assign an independent department to handle such complaints.
“Handle it justly and impartially. Those who have committed wrongdoings should dare to face punishment; all we need is an organization that will punish offenders. This will not undermine the revolution. On the contrary, it will strengthen it,” he remarked.
