Military authorities admitted that a Mandalay resident was killed in their custody more than four weeks after he went missing and authorities told his family he had been released unharmed, sources close to the family said on Tuesday.
Aung Myint Myat, 28, worked as a house painter. He left home for a job in Ohn Chaw village in Mandalay Region’s Patheingyi township on the evening of July 17, and went missing on his way back to Mandalay, a trip that would normally take around 30 minutes by car or motorbike.
Having started a search for him, family members and friends learned that Aung Myint Myat had been detained at the general administration office in the township’s Kyauk Mee village, some four miles northwest of Ohn Chaw on the road back to Mandalay.
Authorities told the family he had been released the same night, Aung Myint Myat’s friend, 30, told Myanmar Now.
“They admitted to arresting and interrogating him. They lied, saying they released him around 11:30pm. But he never returned home,” the friend said.
As Aung Myint Myat’s family and friends continued their search, they discovered on August 14 that he had been beaten and killed soon after his arrest. People staffing the junta checkpoint in front of the ward office where the family lived in Mandalay confirmed Aung Myint Myat’s death, according to his friend.
“After repeated questions, they finally admitted it: Yes, he died that night during interrogation. They only showed a photo of the body with injuries. We don’t know any more details,” he said.
A photo seen by Myanmar Now shows Aung Myint Myat’s body with many bruises and bloody wounds on both of his arms, his neck, and his chest.
A woman connected to the family said Aung Myint Myat was killed at the Kyauk Mee administrative office. While being beaten, Aung Myint Myat had reportedly begged to be released, telling his interrogators that his wife was in the late stages of pregnancy and that he had to go to the hospital.
“From what we’ve learned, he pleaded for mercy, saying that his wife was far along in her pregnancy. He also said he wasn’t involved in politics,” the woman said.
“Whatever happened, it’s a terrible act to arbitrarily arrest and beat a civilian like this. It’s very upsetting,” she added.
As of Tuesday, Aung Myint Myat’s body has not been returned to the family.
He is reportedly survived by his wife May Zin and two small children. May Zin has declined to comment on her husband’s death.
Although the body wasn’t recovered, family members held a religious memorial service on August 17 at the Dhamma Dhara Waso Buddhist Monastery in Mandalay, according to the above sources.
The Kyauk Mee village administration office in Patheingyi Township, located a few miles east of Mandalay on the road to Pyin Oo Lwin, has a reputation for detaining and subjecting travellers to brutal questioning and mistreatment.
The checkpoint in front of the office is manned by young people under 20 in military fatigues and members of the junta-sponsored Pyu Saw Htee militias, whom locals have accused of threatening and extorting bribes from them.
Personnel at the checkpoint stopped a group of motorcyclists passing in front of the administration office about a month ago, according to local sources. When one of the motorcyclists fled, the personnel handcuffed and arrested the others, then demanded that they pay 3 million kyat (US $1,400) for their release, a Mandalay resident told Myanmar Now at the time.
Spokespersons for the military council have not responded to Myanmar Now’s queries regarding the allegations of extortion, torture, or killings by junta personnel.
Accounts have emerged frequently from Mandalay and its surroundings about the violent mistreatment and even killing of civilians by junta authorities at administrative offices and checkpoints.
On the evening of August 27 this year, two men in their early 20s were reportedly shot dead for allegedly failing to stop at a checkpoint for inspection when returning from work on a motorcycle in Pyigyitagon Township’s industrial ward. Both died from gunshots to the head.
On February 22, three men painting a Buddhist monastery in Bon Thar village, Natogyi Township were killed by junta troops, according to local sources. The bodies of the victims, a 27-year-old and two others in their 30s, were never returned to their families.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), an organisation that monitors and collects data on arrests, sentencing, and killings by the junta, 5,654 people have been killed by Myanmar’s military junta and allied groups since the military coup of February 2021.
The military council has contested information published by the AAPP, dismissing its findings as inaccurate.
