Three officers sent to death row in Insein for leaving Laukkai without a fight

Three high-ranking military officers who surrendered to ethnic Kokang forces in northern Shan State last month have been transferred to death row in Yangon’s Insein Prison, according to a leaked document seen by Myanmar Now. The two brigadier generals and a colonel named in the document were among at least half a dozen senior officers arrested for giving up control of Laukkai, the administrative centre of the Kokang Special Administrative Zone, to the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in early January. The leaked document, submitted by the Prisons Department to the Ministry of Home Affairs, identifies the officers as Brig-Gen Moe Kyaw Thu of the Laukkai Regional Operations Command, Brig-Gen Aung Zaw Lin of Military Operations Command (MOC) 12, and Col Thein Aung Soe of the Kutkai Military Headquarters. All three were transferred to Insein Prison on February 7 after being sentenced under Section 32a of Myanmar’s Defence Services Act, which provides the death penalty for any officer who “shamefully abandons, or delivers up any garrison, fortress, post, place, ship or guard, committed to his charge.” The document shows that prior to their transfer, they were all being interrogated at separate military installations in the northern Shan State city of Lashio. It also states that they are currently being held in cells 1, 2, and 4 of Insein Prison’s Special Hall No. 10. The MNDAA took control of Laukkai on January 4 after regime forces stationed at the Laukkai Regional Operations Command Centre agreed to surrender in exchange for safe passage for themselves and their families to Lashio. More than 2,000 troops and their family members were transferred to Lashio under the agreement, marking the largest mass surrender of Myanmar soldiers in the country’s history. In addition to Moe Kyaw Thu and Aung Zaw Lin, at least four other brigadier generals were also arrested in connection with the incident, including Brig-Gen Tun Tun Myint, who was specially appointed to head the Kokang SAZ in November of last year as the MNDAA and it allies mounted a major offensive across much of northern Shan State. The other three known to have been arrested are Brig-Gen Zaw Myo Win of MOC 12, Brig-Gen Aye Min Oo of MOC 14, and Brig-Gen Thaw Zin Oo of MOC 16. All are believed to have been sentenced to either death or life imprisonment. Before he was chosen to head the Kokang SAZ’s government, Tun Tun Myint was in command of all battalions operating in northern Shan State in his capacity as head of the military’s Northeastern Regional Operations Command, which is headquartered in Lashio. The regime lost control of at least seven towns and more than 200 military posts in northern Shan State as a result of Operation 1027, launched by the MNDAA and the two other members of the Brotherhood Alliance, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Arakan Army (AA), on October 27. On January 7, junta troops stationed in the town of Kutkai also agreed to withdraw from their headquarters after negotiations with the TNLA. The first mass surrender after the start of Operation 1027 was reported on November 12, when all 127 troops from Infantry Battalion 129 stationed in Laukkai raised the white flag. Although a Chinese-brokered ceasefire has been in place in northern Shan State since early January, the AA has continued its offensive in Rakhine State, forcing hundreds of regime forces stationed there to flee across the border into neighbouring Bangladesh and India.

Three officers sent to death row in Insein for leaving Laukkai without a fight

A leaked document seen by Myanmar Now confirms that the officers have been sentenced to death for leaving their posts in January

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