Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned by reports that officials in Rangoon, Burma beat a young man to death after which the police arrested two of his friends, who were also beaten, and have charged them with assault. Ko Thet Naing Oo and his two friends were reportedly beaten by municipal officers and fire-fighters after a quarrel in a market on March 17. Thet Naing Oo died in hospital on March 18. His two friends, Ko Win Myint and Ko Khin Maung Zaw are known to have been taken into custody and face charges of physically obstructing government officials from carrying out their duties. Their families and friends complain that they have been denied access to them. Meanwhile, the mother of the dead man has complained that so far she has been unable to lodge a complaint about his death.
According to the information available so far, at around 8pm on 17 March 2006 40-year-old Ko Thet Naing Oo was at a teashop in Thirimingalar Market with his two friends, when he said he would go to urinate. At that time he quarrelled with municipal officers who were taking responsibility for market security, who accused him of breaking the market’s regulations and hit him. After that Thet Naing Oo was infuriated, so he came home to get a weapon, and went back to confront his assailants. When the municipal officers saw him, they yelled that he was a thief, and then a pickpocket, until more officers and fire brigade members came and set upon him together. In Burma the fire brigade is used as an auxiliary security force.
According to eyewitnesses, the group beat Thet Naing Oo until he was on the ground and already half dead. Ko Win Myint and Ko Khin Maung Zaw also were beaten, but not severely. After the assault, the alleged perpetrators called a trishaw and loaded Thet Naing Oo on to it face down and handcuffed. Still they allegedly kept assaulting him while he was unconscious and restrained on the trishaw.
Thet Naing Oo did not regain consciousness and reportedly died in hospital on Saturday, March 18, at 11:40am. He was due to be cremated today, Monday, March 20.
Thet Naing Oo earlier spent ten years in jail for political activism. He was released from Tharawaddy Prison in 2003.
Daw Sein Yi, the victim’s mother, has lodged a complaint with the Kyimyintaing Township Police Station and been given an appointment to come for an interview, but has been told nothing by the officers there. She has stated that she wants justice and to have every person involved in the assault charged with homicide.
However, in the meantime eyewitnesses and alleged assault victims Ko Win Myint and Ko Khin Maung Zaw have themselves reportedly been charged with assaulting the municipal and fire brigade officers and preventing them from carrying out of their official duties. According to the limited information available so far, they have been transferred from Kyimyintaing to Dagon police lockup, and are also due to be brought before the court today, March 20. The families of the two men have reportedly been denied access to them.
The AHRC is attempting to get further details on this case as they come to hand. Meanwhile, a number of radio stations that have contacted to the Kyimyintaing and Dagon police stations, including the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), BBC and VOA, have been consistently told by officers stationed at them that they know nothing about the case.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The AHRC has in recent times reported on a growing number of cases of police officers and/or local government officials in Burma seriously assaulting and sometimes killing local people over trivial incidents. The key feature in each of these cases also has been the inability of the victims or their families to complain, and the subsequent further legal action against the victim or victims to cover up the incident by the perpetrators. See for instance: UA-080-2006, UP-029-2006, UA-058-2006, UA-044-2006, UP-071-2005 and UA-111-2004. See further AS-015-2006.
______________________________
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the Minister of Home Affairs calling for an immediate investigation into the alleged murderous assault and gross failures in criminal procedure as alleged by the family members of the deceased. Please demand that the complaint of the dead man’s mother be fully recorded and investigated.
Regarding the two eyewitnesses, please demand their immediate release from detention and a full investigation also into the circumstances of their alleged assault and arrest.
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 Rangoon, Yangon.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Major General Maung Oo
MYANMAR: Alleged assault and homicide and flagrant breaches of criminal procedure by officers of the Kyimyintaing Township Police Station, Yangon Division
Name of victims:
1. Ko Thet Naing Oo, 40 years old, of Patin Road, Bawga Ward, Kyimyintaing Township, Yangon Division (deceased)
2. Ko Win Myint, 38 years old (under custody at Dagon Police Station, Yangon)
3. Ko Khin Maung Zaw, 21 years old (under custody at Dagon Police Station, Yangon)
Name of alleged perpetrators: A group of fire-fighters and municipal officers posted at the Thirimingalar Market in Kyimyintaing Township, Yangon Division
Date of incident: 18 March 2006
Place of incident: Thirimingalar Market, Kyimyintaing Township, Yangon Division
I am extremely disturbed by the news that a group of municipal officers and fire-fighters stationed at Thirimingalar Market in Kyimyintaing Towship, Yangon Division beat a young man to death on 17 March 2006, after which two eyewitnesses who were also assaulted were charged by officers of the Kyimyintaing Township Police Station with harming government officials in the course of their duty.
According to the information I have been given, at around 8pm on March 17, 40-year-old Ko Thet Naing Oo was at a teashop in Thirimingalar Market with two friends, after which he quarrelled with municipal officers taking responsibility for market security. After being assaulted, Thet Naing Oo came home to get a weapon and went back to confront his assailants. When the municipal officers saw him, they yelled that he was a thief, and then a pickpocket, until more officers and fire brigade members came and set upon him together. According to eyewitnesses, the group beat Thet Naing Oo until he was on the ground and already half dead. Ko Win Myint and Ko Khin Maung Zaw also were beaten, but not severely. After the assault, the alleged perpetrators called a trishaw and loaded Thet Naing Oo on to it face down and handcuffed. Still they allegedly kept assaulting him while he was unconscious and restrained on the trishaw.
Thet Naing Oo did not regain consciousness and reportedly died in hospital on Saturday, March 18, at 11:40am. Daw Sein Yi, his mother, has lodged a complaint with the Kyimyintaing Township Police Station, but has to date been given no further information.
In the meantime, eyewitnesses and alleged assault victims Ko Win Myint and Ko Khin Maung Zaw have themselves reportedly been charged with grievously assaulting the municipal and fire brigade officers in order to obstruct them from carrying out their duties, under section 333 of the Penal Code. They are known to be held at Dagon.
I call on you to order an immediate investigation into this alleged assault with a view to laying charges of homicide under section 302 of the Penal Code against the alleged perpetrators in the municipal authority and fire brigade. In this regard, I also draw your attention to section 46(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which states that under almost no circumstances may an arrest result in death, even when the accused resists, and section 50, which requires that minimum force is used.
I also call for the immediate withdrawal of charges against the two eyewitnesses, and their release from detention without delay. I urge that their statements of the incident be recorded in full and used in a court of law as evidence for the prosecution, both in the abovementioned homicide case and with reference to the alleged assaults on the two of them also.
All victims and their families must obtain full cooperation from the state authorities, including protection if necessary and compensation in the event that the accused are found guilty.
Sadly, this is just the latest in a series of reports coming from Myanmar of government officials assaulting ordinary people over trivial incidents or petty quarrels. What is evident from these reports is that even the lowest-ranking government officials in your country seem to enjoy absolute impunity to commit any type of offence against your citizens, without any prospects for complaint or redress. This situation makes a mockery of your government's aspiration to create a "discipline-flourishing" society. Instead, the world is seeing the opposite. Until such a time that your government takes seriously its responsibilities to investigate and punish state officers who perpetrate gross offences of this sort, your country will continue to be run by the "un-rule of law" to the detriment of everybody. I earnestly hope that in this case you will open the possibility to justice for the victim, his family and others concerned, and thereby set a better example for the future.
Yours sincerely
____________________
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
Maj-Gen. Maung Oo
Minister for Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Corner of Saya San Street and No 1 Industrial Street,
Yankin Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel: +951 250 315 / 374 789
Fax: +951 549 663 / 549 208
PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:
1. Lt-Gen. Soe Win
Prime Minister
c/o Ministry of Defence
Signal Pagoda Road
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 372 681
Fax: + 95 1 652 624
2. U Aye Maung
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
101 Pansodan Street
Kyauktada Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Fax: + 95 1 371 028/ 282 449 / 282 990
3. Brigadier General Khin Yi
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Saya San Road
Yankin Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 549 196/ 228/ 209
3. Mr. Patrick Vial
Head of Delegation
ICRC
No. 2 (C) - 5 Dr. Ba Han Lane
Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, 8th Mile
Mayangone Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel.: +951 662 613 / 664 524
Fax: +951 650 117
E-mail: yangon.yan@icrc.org
4. Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro
Special Rapporteur on Myanmar
Attn: Ms. Audrey Ryan
Room 3-090
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: + 41 22 9179 281
Fax: + 41 22 9179 018 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR MYANMAR)
E-mail: aryan@ohchr.org
5. Professor Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Atten: 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)
Email: lventre@ohchr.org
6. 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)
E-mail: ssyed@ohchr.org
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)
