Soldiers ‘beat captives’ in online video
YANGON: Authorities in Myanmar will investigate a video that appears to show members of the armed forces beating, kicking and violently interrogating several people, the government said yesterday.
The video, which seems to show soldiers repeatedly kicking the men in the head as they interrogate them, surfaced on Facebook over the weekend. Based on the speakers’ accents, the military uniforms and the place names mentioned, it appears to have been shot in Shan state, where rebels are fighting government forces.
Human rights advocates urged the government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi to investigate after the footage.
“The government should investigate, and they should hold the perpetrators accountable,” Matthew Smith, chief executive of advocacy group Fortify Rights, said on Tuesday. “This is one of the rare cases where we can see the soldiers committing torture in one of the conflict zones.”
Ms Suu Kyi’s office said in a statement: “We have found a 17-minute-long video on social media showing four civilians mistreated by some soldiers. International human rights organisations released statements about that on May 28. The government will now necessarily investigate the violations according to the current rules and regulations.”
The video is the second in recent months that appears to show security forces in Myanmar abusing captives.
A video that surfaced in December seemed to depict border police officers in Rakhine state beating two unarmed men, members of the persecuted Rohingya minority. That video led to the arrests of four officers.
Mr Smith said he believed the episode captured in the latest video had occurred recently, and he expressed concern about the welfare of the captives.
Men are shown tied up and sitting on the ground in the 17-minute video, which appears to have been shot by a member of a local militia who speaks with a Shan accent.
One officer, apparently in command, questions the men about weapons. He hits one in the face with a helmet, shouting: “Where are the guns?”
“Even though you don’t have a gun, you are still part of the resistance,” the officer says, according to a translation provided by Fortify Rights.
The interrogators kick and strike the men and threaten to kill them if they do not comply. “I will cut your throat and kill you,” one soldier says.
At one point, the officer tells a detainee that if guns are found, he will cut out the man’s tongue. At another point, he waves a machete and threatens to cut a captive’s throat. Just before the video ends, he warns: “We won’t set you free.”