A monk from Mandalay Region was killed after being detained by junta soldiers this week, leading locals to accuse the military of torturing him to death.
Pyinar Wuntha, who ran a monastic school in the village of Kin in Madaya Township, was detained on Sunday after another monk accused of being a military informant was shot dead in the village.
The morning after Pyinar Wuntha was taken, authorities phoned his apprentice to tell him to come and collect the body from the Madaya General Hospital, a local man who would like to remain anonymous told Myanmar Now.
“He was only taken last night and his body was at the morgue this morning,” the man said on Monday.
Calls to the Madaya Central Police Station seeking comment on the monk’s death went unanswered.
It appears Pyinyar Wuntha was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the killing of a rival monk named Soe.
Like Pyinar Wuntha, Soe was a member of the Lwin Oo monastery, where residents say they were in competition with one another for the position of head monk.
Junta-controlled newspapers said on Monday that Soe was shot dead by ten members of the People’s Defence Force (PDF).
After the killing, soldiers arrived in Kin and arrested Pyinar Wuntha along with around 19 other villagers.
“The truth is, we still don’t know who killed Soe,” said the villager.
Several residents told Myanmar Now that Soe helped the junta to recruit people for its Pyu Saw Htee militia and was involved in the burning of houses believed to belong to people who raised funds for the PDF.
On Monday afternoon, local PDF fighters used explosives to ambush a column of about 30 soldiers outside of Kin, killing and injuring several of them.
