Myanmar’s military regime has tortured to death at least 95 people in interrogation centers and prisons since last year’s coup, said rights groups who called on the international community to help end the junta’s atrocities.

Among those tortured to death were National League for Democracy officials and members, student activists, young resistance fighters, peaceful protesters, striking civil servants, politicians and bystanders.

In a joint statement released on International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 14 local rights groups including the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Equality Myanmar, the Women’s League for Burma and the Ta’ang Civil Society Organization, stated that the junta has used horrific methods of torture on political detainees in order to terrorize opponents of military rule.

“It is now common practice for the military to torture, to extract information and enact revenge, before summarily executing with gunshots,” said the joint statement.

The statement added that it has documented evidence of torture through first-hand testimony that reveals the use of guns, clubs, knives and pliers on detainees by junta forces.

Mock executions and burials, forcing detainees to assume stress positions, deprivation of food and water for days, being forced to drink toilet water, beatings on genitals and threats of sexual assault and rape are among the forms of torture used by the regime.

In one instance, almost 30 residents of Mon Taing Pin Village in Sagaing Region were slaughtered by regime troops in May after being captured in a monastery. Their bodies were found blindfolded with their hands tied. The victims’ throats had been cut or they had been burned to death.

“We call attention to the historic use of torture by the military junta as a direct result of the impunity it enjoyed for decades. Hollow threats by international governments and regional blocs must end,” the 14 rights groups said in their statement.

They called on United Nations (UN) member states, as well as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to put much more political pressure on the junta.

International actors must refuse engagement, dialogue, or participation in activities which lend legitimacy to the regime, and implement a comprehensive global arms embargo, more targeted financial sanctions against military conglomerates and other pro-military business interests and support the work of accountability mechanisms, such as the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Burma (IIMM), added the rights groups.

The groups also called on the UN Security Council to refer cases of torture to the International Criminal Court, to end the physical and mental torture of political prisoners.

Irrawaddy News

Locals say a local pro-junta militia was also involved in the killings in Dawei district.

Two people in their sixties were tied up and shot dead at close range by junta forces and their allies at a village in Myanmar’s southwestern Tanintharyi region on Sunday as revenge attacks by troops and their militia allies increase.

Around 15 troops, and militia members from a nearby village entered Kadakgyi village in Launglon township, Dawei district, according to an official from the Democracy Movement Strike Committee (DMSC), Dawei district. The official identified the married couple as Thaung Win and Win Aye (nicknamed Mi Kyone). He said militia members from Pande village took part in the killings.

“They came into the village and cuffed the couple’s hands behind their backs. The couple were shot dead in the street. I could not see any badges, but there were military intelligence and military-affiliated Pyu Saw Htee members,” the official said.

The two villagers were shot in their heads, eyes, stomachs and backs, the official told RFA, adding that the bodies had been taken to a morgue.

The couple had been involved in the anti-regime movement and supported young protesters, the official said.Junta forces and their militia allies looted houses after the killings. CREDIT: Democracy Movement Strike Committee, Dawei district.

Local residents said the junta forces raided five houses in Kadakgyi village and took money and valuables after killing the couple. They say the troops and militia destroyed homes and belongings that were not claimed by villagers.

The military council has not released a statement about the incident and calls to a military council spokesman by RFA went unanswered on Monday.

The DMSC statement said six civilians had been shot dead and two injured by junta forces and Pyu Saw Htee groups between June 16 and 26.

There has been a rise in attacks involving pro-junta militia in Tanintharyi recently.

The Soon Ye (Kite Force) militia is thought to be behind the shooting deaths of three villagers in Launglon township on April 28 and another killing on the road  between Dawei and Launglon on May 3.

The day before the second killing, the militia wrote on Facebook that it had the addresses of anti-coup protesters and would harm their families if they did not stop their activities.

At least 2,021 people have been killed in Myanmar since the coup on February 1, 2021 to June 24 this year, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). Figures gathered by Data for Myanmar between February 1, 2021 and April 28, 2022 show that 27 people had been killed in Taninthary, the sixth highest level of 15 regions.

RFA News