Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received details of yet another murderous assault in Burma which officials are trying to cover up. Ko Naing Oo was taken into custody by suburban council officers in Rangoon on 18 March 2007, because of a petty family dispute. He was found dead in their office the next morning, with marks from a severe assault all over his body. However, the officials have attempted to claim that he died from a cold that he contracted during the night time. An inquiry has been opened at the local police station and the family of the victim have lodged a complaint in the court; however, most such complaints are unsuccessful in Burma. Your intervention is needed to see that justice is done.
According to the information received from a number of sources, on the afternoon of March 18 36-year-old Ko Naing Oo, a labourer with two children, left his house in ward 2 of North Okkalapa, a suburb of Rangoon, to go to help with a local beautification project when he was stopped by members of the Union Solidarity & Development Association (USDA), a government-organised mass movement body. The group, led by U Ohn Hlaing, took him to the local council office because his mother in law, a USDA member, had reportedly complained that he had argued with her daughter and had wanted the officials to sort it out.
At the office Naing Oo was reportedly interrogated by the chairman and secretary of the local council, U Nyi Nyi Lwin and U Sein Win. According to witnesses, at around 8pm that night he could be heard crying out repeatedly as he was brutally assaulted inside the council premises.
At around 7am the next morning, March 19, word got out that Naing Oo was dead inside the office. The family was not informed, but hearing the news, his younger brother Ko Min San came and saw Naing Oo lying dead with cuts on the left side of his head, at the base of the skull and above the temple; bruises on his left leg and blood coming from his mouth, among other injuries. It was also obvious that the body had been moved after having died. According to Min San, in a telephone interview on the Voice of America Burmese service,
“When I asked how my brother had died, they said that he had caught a cold. That’s impossible. I could see the injuries to his head. Blood and cotton coming out of his mouth–that’s the type of cold my brother died from.”
The body was sent to hospital for a postmortem. The doctor handling the case, Dr. Win Kyi, has promised to give a true postmortem report; in other similar cases the doctors have issued reports that reflect the wishes and instructions of the authorities concerned rather than accurately report on the condition of the body. However, there remain concerns after the in-laws of the victim and the USDA members hurriedly organised for the body to be cremated on the morning of March 21.
The police have said that they are investigating the case, and a complaint has been lodged, but so far no arrests are known to have been made.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Unfortunately, most complaints of extrajudicial killing by police officers and other state officials in Burma end in failure. Among notable cases taken up by the AHRC have been:
Maung Chan Kun: beaten to death in police custody in January; his body was dumped in hospital covered in severe injuries, but the police claimed that he died due to malaria; complaints by the family have so far not obtained any result (UA-023-2007)
Maung Ne Zaw: allegedly beaten to death in custody by Special Anti-drug Squad police; his mother fled to Thailand after constant harassment and threats due to her attempts to obtain justice (UA-222-2006)
Ko Thet Naing Oo: allegedly beaten to death by municipal officers and fire fighters in a public market; after his mother campaigned for justice, the police arrested and charged a group of innocent bystanders with his death (UP-064-2006, UP-060-2006, UA-097-2006)
Ko Aung Hlaing Win: allegedly tortured to death by military intelligence; his wife lodged detailed appeals in the courts on the irregularities in his case, including the non-return of her husband’s body (whom the state claimed died of a heart attack), but these were summarily dismissed at all levels (UA-110-2005)
These are but a few of the many such cases going on in Burma. Remarkably, the key United Nations agency working on crime with an office in Burma, the UN Office on Drugs & Crime, in its 2005 country profile has claimed that there are “not even anecdotal reports of murders, rapes or kidnappings” in Burma and that “crime does not appear to be a major concern among the population” there. Letters sent by the AHRC to the office raising questions about this assessment and offering details of serious crimes where the police and other state officers are the accused met with no reply (AHRC-OL-030-2006).
See further: AS-165-2006, AS-070-2006 and AS-015-2006.
See also the 2006 AHRC Human Rights Report chapter on Burma, and visit the AHRC Burma homepage: http://burma.ahrchk.net.
______________________________
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the Minister of Home Affairs and other concerned persons below calling for an immediate investigation into the alleged death in custody. Please note that for the purpose of the letter, the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar, rather than Burma, and Yangon rather than Rangoon.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ___________,
MYANMAR: Alleged death of Ko Naing Oo on 18 March 2007 due to assault in custody by Peace & Development Council officials in North Okkalapa
Name of victim: Ko Naing Oo (a.k.a. Ko Ye Naing Oo), 36 years old (deceased), labourer, married with two children
Complainant: U Hla Myint, father of victim, residing in Ward 2, North Okkalapa Township, Yangon
Alleged perpetrators:
1. U Nyi Nyi Lwin, Chairperson, Ward 2 Peace & Development Council, North Okkalapa, Yangon
2. U Sein Win, General Secretary, Ward 2 Peace & Development Council, North Okkalapa, Yangon
3. U Ohn Hlaing, Executive, Ward 2 Union Solidarity & Development Association, North Okkalapa
Date of incident: 18-19 March 2007
Place of incident: Ward 2 Peace & Development Council office, North Okkalapa, Yangon
I am writing to express my dismay at the news that yet another young man has allegedly been senselessly beaten to death in custody by government officials in Myanmar, this time members of a ward Peace & Development Council and the Union Solidarity & Development Association, listed above.
According to the information that I have received, Ko Naing Oo was taken on the afternoon of 18 March 2007 to the office of the Ward 2 Peace & Development Council in North Okkalapa, Yangon, by members of the Union Solidarity & Development Association (USDA) led by U Ohn Hlaing. The group had reportedly received complaints against him from his in-laws. At the office Naing Oo was interrogated by the council chairman and secretary, U Nyi Nyi Lwin and U Sein Win. According to witnesses, at around 8pm that night he could be heard crying out repeatedly as he was brutally assaulted inside the council premises. His dead body was transferred to the North Okkalapa Township Hospital, where it was examined by Dr. Win Kyi. The body was seen to have abrasions on the left side of the head at the base of the skull and above the temple; bruises on the left leg and blood coming from the mouth, among other injuries.
I am aware that the police are currently investigating the case, but in view of the authority of the alleged perpetrators and the other circumstances, I urge that all prompt and necessary measures be taken to ensure that the investigation is properly and thoroughly done and arrests made without further delay. I am especially concerned by reports that the council authorities have claimed that the victim died of a cold, and that the USDA members in the township also hurriedly arranged for the body to be cremated at 10am on March 21, which will prevent any subsequent examinations.
The loss of a young person’s life is a tragedy which is compounded further when no redress is forthcoming. I note with concern that most such complaints made against state officials in Myanmar are unsuccessful, not for want of evidence but because the concerned authorities are unwilling to act upon them. This is despite the fact that under Part III of the Citizen’s Rights Protection Law 1975 (Parliamentary Act No. 2/1975), citizens are entitled to lodge complaints where they believe that their rights have been infringed.
I am aware that in recent times there have been a growing number of serious and substantiated allegations of deaths in custody in Myanmar. It is clear that this trend is causing growing alarm among the public which can only lead to greater instability, to the detriment of everybody. To address the trend it is necessary for you to give the public confidence that the authorities are acting to investigate properly and bring to an end such incidents through prosecutions and punishment of the alleged perpetrators, and by protection of witnesses and compensation for victims and their families.
Yours sincerely
—
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
Maj-Gen. Maung Oo
Minister for Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 040/ 069/ 072
Fax: +95 67 412 016/ 439
PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:
1. Lt-Gen. Soe Win
Prime Minister
c/o Ministry of Defence
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 372 681
Fax: + 95 1 652 624
2. U Aye Maung
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Office No. 25
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 404 088/ 090/ 092/ 094/ 097
Fax: +95 67 404 146/ 106
3. Brig-Gen. Khin Yi
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 549 196/ 228/ 209
4. Mr. Shariq Bin Raza
Representative
UN Office on Drugs and Crime
11A Malikha Road
Ward 7, Mayangone Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel: +951 666 903/ 660 556/ 660 538/ 660 398/ 664 539
Fax: +951 651 334
E-mail: fo.myanmar@unodc.org, shariq.raza@unodc.org, camila.vega@unodc.org
5. Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro
Special Rapporteur on Myanmar
Attn: Mr. Laurent Meillan
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: + 41 22 9179 281
Fax: + 41 22 9179 018 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR MYANMAR)
E-mail: lmeillan@ohchr.org
6. Professor Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Attn: Ms. Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016, c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS)
7. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
Attn: Mr. Safir Syed
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 9179016 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR TORTURE)
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)
