Pyu Saw Htee torture, murder civilians in Sagaing’s Pale Township

Four villagers who were among 24 abducted by the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia in Sagaing Region’s Pale Township last week were tortured to death, according to survivors. On May 21, Pyu Saw Htee troops based in In Ma Htee, a village about 12 miles west of the town of Pale, rounded up residents of the nearby village of Taung Ywar Thit as they were tending their fields and held them for nearly a week, sources told Myanmar Now. While most of the villagers were released on Monday, four were reported dead, the sources said. “Those who were freed were weak and exhausted. They had been badly beaten and were stabbed in their hands and elbows. The women were tortured as severely as the men,” said a member of Taung Ywar Thit’s anti-regime People's Administration Team. The dead were identified as Kyaw Khine, 45, Tint Zaw Oo, 24, Tun Hlaing, 30, and Tun Naing Lin, 22. All four were killed on May 22, a day after they were taken into custody, according to those who were released. The survivors said they were separated into two groups—eight who were held in shackles and the rest who were detained in two cells. Each of the captives was interrogated separately, they added. Kyaw Khine, one of the shackled prisoners, died almost immediately after his interrogation, said one survivor. “He was being put back in his shackles when he died. His right hand was crushed, and his elbow was also broken. His chest was covered with bruises and there was blood coming out of his mouth,” said the survivor, who did not want to be identified for security reasons. “He told me to tell his wife and brother-in-law to take care of his children. I said that if I didn’t die during interrogation, I would give them his message. Then they dragged away his body like a dog and threw it on a cart.” According to those who were freed, they were asked if they were involved in any local resistance groups and whether they knew about the location of landmines. “They didn’t ask me much, but they kept hitting me all over the head. They also stabbed my hand, piercing it right through,” said one man in his 30s. When they were released, they were warned not to speak to the media about how they were treated or about the four who were murdered, he added. “We don’t dare stay here anymore. We’re worried that they will come back. I can’t even sleep at night. I’m just scared and shaking,” he said. According to local resistance groups, there are about 80 soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee militiamen stationed in In Ma Htee, a village of around 400 households. On May 24, the junta released a statement denying that more than 20 civilians from Taung Ywar Thit had been abducted. “There have been no arrests or detentions of innocent people,” the statement said.

Pyu Saw Htee torture, murder civilians in Sagaing’s Pale Township

Four of the 24 villagers held for nearly a week died while undergoing interrogation, according to survivors

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