Myanmar exhumes Angel only to find police ‘innocent’ of killing teen
MYANMAR authorities exhumed the body of a 19-yearold woman who was shot dead wearing a T-shirt that read “Everything will be OK” — and then said their examination exonerated police from the killing, state television MRTV reported yesterday.
Kyal Sin, widely known as Angel, died last Wednesday from a shot to the head as protesters came under fire from security forces trying to end demonstrations against the February 1 coup. She has become an icon of the protest movement.
The exhumation of Kyal Sin has brought fresh outrage from opponents of the coup, who accuse the junta of trying to conceal the fact she was killed by their forces.
State TV said police, a judge and doctors had exhumed the body and carried out a surgical investigation.
They found a wound in the back of the head and a piece of lead measuring 1.2 cm by 0.7 cm in the brain and said that it was different from the tips of bullets used by the police.
State TV said police had been face-to-face with protesters and the wound was at the back of the head and that the object which killed Kyal Sin could be fired from a gun able to shoot .38 calibre bullets.
“Therefore, it can be assumed that those who do not want stability conducted the assassination,” MRTV said.
On social media, coup opponents described the exhumation as a further insult to Kyal Sin and her family, with the intention of giving a false account of what happened.
State TV said authorities had asked for the family’s permission to exhume the body, but did not say whether it was granted.
Protesters at the scene in Mandalay last Wednesday said they had come under fire from live bullets at the time Kyal Sin was killed. Pictures show she had the back of her head turned towards the line of security forces in the moments before she was killed.
Kyal Sin was among at least 38 people killed last Wednesday, the bloodiest day so far in attempts by security forces to stop protests against the coup that has prompted daily demonstrations for over a month. The army says it has been so far been restrained in its use of force,