Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received detailed information about a case brought by the army in Burma against a man who lodged a complaint over the death of his daughter. According to the complaint of BrangShawng to the national human rights commission, his teenage daughter was killed when a soldier shot at a house she had taken shelter in, and the army refused him permission to take her to hospital promptly. The army accused him of falsifying the allegation and currently he is being prosecuted. Meanwhile, no action has been taken regarding the killing of his daughter.
CASE NARRATIVE:
On 13 September 2012, around 80 soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 369 based at Hopinwere on patroling Hpakant Township, Kachin State, when they came to Sut Ngai Yan village, where they stopped to take a rest, eat and drink alcohol.
At around 4pm, 13-year-old student JaSengIng was returning from school with four other students and a teacher. When entering the village, they met with the military column, which was getting ready to leave. As the unit moved out an explosion occurred down the road and the military personnel, thinking they were under attack by Kachin rebels, opened fire indiscriminately with small arms and heavy weapons. Locally, it is known that troops from two government army units fired on one another by mistake.
Because school was coming out the roads were busy with students, relatives and teachers, some of whom were injured in the shooting. Among them, Ja Seng Ing and group dashed to a nearby house and took shelter, even though the wooden and leaf building was no protection from gunfire. After a few minutes, a soldier marched up to the place they had hidden, having seen them running away. Then he shouted for them to come out and when they didn’t he fired into the house, hitting Ja Seng Ing in the hip. All the others in the group witnessed the shooting.
After a few minutes he shouted again and at that time the teacher went out and appealed that she was hidden along with five students and identified none of them was from an armed group: a fact that the soldier should have known had he seen them run, as they were in their school uniforms.
After her clarification, all the students were called out. When they realized that Ja Seng Ing was shot, the soldier who shot her was ordered to take her to the village military post where the medical personnel were based.
Meanwhile, soldiers called all the other residents out of hiding in their houses and separated them by gender. Then one solider called out the name of Ja Seng Ing’s father and took him to meet his daughter. When he saw her, her face was pale but she was still conscious and said that she had a deep pain in her stomach. He saw she was loosing a lot of blood and the medical personnel advised that she should be taken to hospital urgently.
The father then requested to the column commander Colonel Zaw Min to allow him to use the village church car to rush his daughter to hospital, but he rejected his appeal and replied that only after the military troops had left could they go to the hospital. Finally, it was only after 7pm, more than three hours later, that the father and other relatives could take the injured girl to the hospital. They reached the hospital after 30 minutes and staff began blood transfusions. At 9pm the doctor began to operate, but after 45 minutes came to inform the family that Ja Seng Ing had died. The doctor disclosed to the father that the bullet had passed through her stomach and intestines. The family brought her back home and buried her two days later.
On 18 September 2012, the village administrator called Brang Shawng and said that the army officer wanted to meet him. When he reached the military post, Colonel Zaw Min expressed his sympathy for the loss and offered 100,000 Kyats (equivalent to USD110) to the bereaved family.
One week later, the family went to the capital of Kachin State, Myitkyina, where they sought help from local lawyers. They sent an appeal letter to the president on 25 September 2012, in which Brang Shawng asked for justice for his daughter’s death, and urged that the army stop shooting at civilians. On 1 October 2012, he sent a letter to the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, asking it to take action against the military personnel who committed the murder. He also sent appeal letters to the Kachin State chief minister, and northern army commander. However, he got no replies to any of the letters.
On Kachin State Day, 10 January 2013, Brang Shawng spoke at a public gathering in Rangoon about the death of his daughter and attracted strong support from the audience.
Thereafter, on 20 February 2013 BrangShawnglearned that he was being charged with making false allegations against the military. The military claimed that artillery or a mine caused the injuries to the girl’s body resulting in her death, because no bullet was found in her body. A case was opened against him on February 25.
After lodging the case, the army officer responsible failed to appear on scheduled hearing dates five times in a row. Only on the sixth occasion on May 20 did the two parties meet in court. The case is continuing. Further details are in the sample letter below, as usual.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Hpakant Township, Kachin State is the main center of Burma’s lucrative jade-mining industry that has recently been the subject of fighting between the Kachin Independence Army and government troops. Thousands of residents have fled the town and are currently staying in 43 temporary shelters in the area.
The AHRC earlier this year issued a dossier on cases of arbitrary detention and torture in Kachin State:http://www.humanrights.asia/news/press-releases/AHRC-PRL-002-2013.
It has also closely followed a number of other cases from the region, including the kidnapping, rape and murder of a young mother, Sumlut Roi Ja: http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAC-240-2011.
For more commentary on these and other human rights issues in Burma, visit the Burma page on the new AHRC website: http://www.humanrights.asia/countries/burma.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the government agencies listed below to call for immediate investigations into the soldiers responsible for the murder of the schoolgirl and dropping of charges against the father, U Brang Shawng, as well as for peace talks so that the people in the conflicting areas do not suffer similar abuses.
Please note that Burma should be referred to by its official name, Myanmar in letters written to the relevant authorities.
Please be informed that the AHRC is writing separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteurs on Myanmar and on extrajudicial killings, and to the regional human rights office for Southeast Asia calling for interventions into this case.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ……………. ,
MYANMAR: Army prosecutes father of teenage girl killed by soldier for alleged false complaint
Name of deceased: JaSengIng, 13, grade 9 high school student, third daughter of U Brang Shawng
Name of father: U Brang Shawng, 48, employee of gemstone company
Residents of Block 1, Maw One Ward, Hpakant Township, Kachin State, Myanmar
Names of personnel involved:
1. Major Zarni Min Baik, Serial No. Kyi/33169, Strategic Frontline Unit No. 3, Northern Command; prosecuting officer
2. Colonel Zaw Min, column commander, Light Infantry Battalion 389; head of responsible unit
3. Major Tint Naing Win, Northern Command
4. Major HtunMyintHtun, Serial No. Kyi/32245,Light Infantry Division101 HQ
5. Inspector MaungMaungKyi, station commander, Hpakant Township Police Station
6. Police Sergeant SoeMyintAung, crimes officer, Hpakant Township Police Station
Date of incident:13 September 2012 and thereafter
Place of incident: SutNgai Yan village, Hpakant Township, Kachin State, Myanmar
Charge against father of deceased: Section 211, Penal Code, false charge; Hpakant Township Court, Criminal Case No. 32/2013, Deputy Township Judge HtunNaing (Serial No. Ta/2642)
I am writing to voice my deep concern from information that I have received regarding the killing of a schoolgirl and prosecution of her father in Myanmar.
According to the information that I have received, on 13 September 2012, around 80 soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 369 based at Hopin were on patrol in Hpakant Township, Kachin State, when they came to Sut Ngai Yan village, where they stopped to take a rest, eat and drink alcohol.
At around 4pm, Ja SengIng was returning from school with four other students – Sai Mai, Ja Bawk Lu, Ja Mon Mai, Roi Nu – and a teacher, Lahpai Nang San. When entering the village, they met with the military column, which was getting ready to leave. As the unit moved out an explosion occurred down the road and the military personnel, thinking they were under attack by Kachin rebels, opened fire indiscriminately with small arms and heavy weapons. Locally, it is known that troops from two government army units fired on one another by mistake.
Because school was coming out the roads were busy with students, relatives and teachers, some of whom were injured in the shooting. Among them, Ja Seng Ing and group dashed to a nearby house and took shelter, even though the wooden and leaf building was no protection from gunfire. After a few minutes, a soldier marched up to the place they had hidden, having seen them running away. Then he shouted for them to come out and when they didn’t he fired into the house, hitting Ja SengIng in the hip. All the others in the group witnessed the shooting.
After a few minutes he shouted again and at that time the teacher went out and appealed that she was hidden along with five students and identified none of them was from an armed group: a fact that the soldier should have known had he seen them run, as they were in their bright green and white school uniforms.
After her clarification, all the students were called out. When they realized that Ja Seng Ing was shot, the soldier who shot her was ordered to take her to the village military post where the medical personnel were based.
Meanwhile, soldiers called all the other residents out of hiding in their houses and separated them by gender. Then one solider called out the name of Ja SengIng’s father and took him to meet his daughter. When he saw her, her face was pale but she was still conscious and said that she had a deep pain in her stomach. He saw she was loosing a lot of blood and the medical personnel advised that she should be taken to hospital urgently.
The father then requested to the column commander Colonel Zaw Min to allow him to use the village church car to rush his daughter to hospital, but he rejected his appeal and replied that only after the military troops had left could they go to the hospital. Finally, it was only after 7pm, more than three hours later, that the father and other relatives could take the injured girl to the hospital. They reached the hospital after 30 minutes and staff began blood transfusions. At 9pm the doctor began to operate, but after 45 minutes came to inform the family that Ja Seng Ing had died. The doctor disclosed to the father that the bullet had passed through her stomach and intestines. The family brought her back home and buried her two days later.
On 18 September 2012, the village administrator called Brang Shawng and said that the army officer wanted to meet him. When he reached the military post, Colonel Zaw Min expressed his sympathy for the loss and offered 100,000 Kyats (equivalent to USD110) to the bereaved family. It is clear to me that this money was being offered as a way to silence the family and close the matter there and then.
Despite the army officer’s attempt to pay them off, the family went to the capital of Kachin State, Myitkyina, where they sought help from local lawyers. They sent an appeal letter to the president on 25 September 2012, in which Brang Shawng asked for justice for his daughter’s death, and urged that the army stop shooting at civilians. On 1 October 2012, he sent a letter to the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, asking it to take action against the military personnel who committed the murder. He also sent appeal letters to the Kachin State chief minister, and northern army commander. However, he got no replies to any of the letters.
However, on 20 February 2013BrangShawnglearned that he was being charged with making false allegations against the military. The military claimed that artillery or a mine caused the injuries to the girl’s body resulting in her death, because no bullet was found in her body, even though the medical report (DC/70/KMS/2012, 3 October 2012) makes clear that death was caused by a single piece of ammunition penetrating the body, consistent with a bullet. A case was opened against him on February 25.
After lodging the case, the army officer responsible failed to appear on scheduled hearing dates five times in a row – on March 11 and 25, April 8 and 22, and May 6. Only on the sixth occasion on May 20 did the two parties meet in court. The case is continuing.
It is clear to me that the criminal case lodged against Brang Shawng is an act of vengeance by the local army officers, angered and embarrassed that a complaint has been lodged higher up, and needing to act to protect their own interests.
That the father of a murdered teenager would be subject to such actions while the killer of his child walks free is utterly repugnant and an indictment on Myanmar’s policing and judicial institutions. I call for the case to be dropped at once.
Furthermore, I call for investigations and criminal actions to be taken against the army officers responsible for the killing and cover up of the murder of this teenager, and for other injuries caused to people in the locality during this incident. In this regard, I note that under the present constitutional arrangements in Myanmar purported to be heralding a new democratic era to the country, the military has complete control over legal and judicial affairs relating to its members – a condition that guarantees effective impunity to soldiers who commit egregious abuses of this sort. Clearly, this situation must change. I urge that all concerned persons in the country and elsewhere lobby the government to see to it that as soon as possible army personnel are made answerable to the criminal laws of the land that apply to everyone else, and are subject to the jurisdiction of civilian courts.
Finally, I call on the government of Myanmar to cease pursuing military means to resolve the conflict in Kachin State. I am aware in this regard that recently the two sides in the conflict have agree to scale down hostilities and again enter talks. I urge the government to proceed with this arrangement sincerely and to do everything within its means to ensure that the needless deaths of people in Kachin State like Ja Seng Ing are stopped without delay.
Yours sincerely,
—————-
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. U TheinSein
President of Myanmar
President Office
Office No.18
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
2. U Win Mra
Chairman
Myanmar National Human Rights Commission
27 Pyay Road
Hlaing Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel:+95-01-654668
Fax:+951654668
3. U LajunNganSeng
Chief Minister,Kachin State
Kachin State Government office
Myitkyina
Kachin State
MYANMAR
4. Col Than Aung
Minister of Security and Border Affairs for Kachin State
Ministers’ Office
Kachin State Government Office
Myitkyina
Kachin State
MYANMAR
5. Lt-Gen MyintSoe
Head of the Bureau of Special Operations-1
Military Operations in Kachin State
Ministry of Defence
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
6. The Kachin State AttorneyGeneral
Office of the Attorney General
Myitkyina
Kachin State
MYANMAR
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
