The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information from sources in Burma about an alleged assault by a police officer resulting in the death of a young man. According to the information so far received, Ko Naing Win died of head injuries near his house in Thongwa, Rangoon Division at around 3am on 4 October 2011. When found at around 5:30am, he appeared to have been struck on the back of the head by a stick or similar object. His face also was badly swollen and blood was running from his nose.
A policeman has been arrested over the killing. He is Constable Zin Min Htun (a.k.a. Pyatthada), of Police Battalion Number 8, stationed at Hmawbi. He is reported to have been drunk at the time of the attack on Naing Win. At time of writing, he is being held at the Thongwa Township Police Station, where he has reportedly confessed to the killing.
The Asian Human Rights Commission urges that if the alleged policeman is found to have killed Naing Win, he be prosecuted for murder. It is making this call pre-emptively because from many years experience it is aware of the capacity for accused policemen and government officials in Burma to walk free from allegations of murderous assault of this sort, sometimes by implicating innocent persons for the offence in their stead. The AHRC also urges that a full investigation be conducted to ascertain whether or not any other persons were involved in the killing, and that the investigation be properly conducted through the careful collection of evidence, rather than resort to torture or other unlawful behaviour for which police in Burma have a long reputation.
Naing Win was a youth member of the National League for Democracy, and sources have expressed concern that an argument or dispute with the officer that led to his killing might have been linked to his activities with the NLD. He had just returned from a party meeting that day. Although at the present time NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been meeting with the president, former general U Thein Sein, and the party is considering attempting to register as a political organization, the AHRC is aware that at the local level, many NLD activists are continuing to face threats and restrictions on their activities by local police and officials, including members of the military-established Union Solidarity and Development Party. The AHRC takes this opportunity to call for officials and quasi-government officials in Burma to cease harassment and intimidation of NLD members, and also to urge that all violent attacks on persons in Burma that may conceivably be linked to their political activities be given special attention by the relevant authorities, who ought to be sending a clear signal at this time that such incidents will under no circumstances be tolerated.
