NUG to file case against NLD member accused of raping child

Myanmar’s publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG) says it is preparing to file a case against a senior member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) accused of raping a five-year-old girl in the Thai border town of Mae Sot.

The move is in response to a complaint filed on May 2 accusing Aung Min, an NLD party secretary for Yangon Region’s Twante Township, of assaulting the child at a safe house for Myanmar dissidents in the town.

Nay Phone Latt, an NUG spokesperson, told Myanmar Now that preparations are being made to issue an arrest warrant for the suspect.

“The NUG police force is now building a case against him and preparing to file a lawsuit. Once that is done, the case will be handed over to the judicial department and an arrest warrant will be issued,” he said.

“If this was in Myanmar, we could rely on civilians to help us find and arrest him. But since it is in Thailand, we may also need to notify the Thai authorities,” he added.

He also stated that as a revolutionary government fighting injustice, the NUG would do everything in its power to ensure that the case is handled without prejudice.

The victim and her mother have already been moved to another location and have been provided with the necessary medical and psychological support, he added.

In her complaint letter to the NUG, the mother of the victim identified herself as a former Yangon University teacher who was taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement against military rule. She said she left Myanmar with her daughter in October of last year for security reasons.

She said that due to her financial situation, she had been forced to move into a house shared by four families. However, at the time of the alleged incident, only she, her daughter, and Aung Min were in the house.

According to the woman, her daughter was assaulted in the bathroom, which was shared by all of the house’s inhabitants. A nurse who examined the child confirmed that she had injuries consistent with rape, the woman said in her three-page letter.

The letter was addressed to the NUG’s Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs and four other ministries, as well as the President’s Office, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, and the NLD’s Central Executive Committee.

A neighbour who said she knew the woman told Myanmar Now that although she did not know the details of the case, she noticed that the girl’s mother had become quite depressed at the inaction of the NUG after she filed her complaint.

“She said she didn’t want to pursue the case after the news started spreading around. She also started receiving threatening text messages and was becoming very scared,” said the neighbour, adding that the woman and her child moved out soon after this without taking any of their belongings.

The neighbour also claimed that she saw a group of people come to the house to arrest Aung Min, who had been living in the house for two years, but failed to find him.

Since then, the woman’s complaint letter has circulated widely on social media, along with photos allegedly showing Aung Min in handcuffs.

Noe Noe Htet San, a central committee member of the Democratic Party for a New Society, said the NUG must take “systematic action” to ensure that the victim receives justice.

“The NUG must take systematic action regarding this case. They must also take full responsibility. They need to hold this man accountable,” he said, adding that the sexual abuse of a child is never acceptable, but is even worse in this case because the perpetrator is a member of a major political party.