Two men arrested in the central Myanmar town of Myit Chay last week have died in custody, while relatives of two others detained at the same time say they don’t know where they are being held or if they are still alive.
The four men were arrested in Myit Chay’s 8th Quarter on March 28. Their families were initially told the day after their arrest that they would be released from the Pakokku Military Hospital, but two of the men were later reported dead.
“They said they would release all four of them. They told us one family member could come for each detainee, so I went,” said the cousin of one of the detained men, Win Kyaw, who was in his 40s.
“It was only after I arrived that they called again to say that Ko Win Kyaw had died. They said the body could not be taken back to his home, so the funeral was held there,” he added.
Win Kyaw’s sister, who was his only immediate family member, was not permitted to attend the funeral.
The body of another detainee, Saw Tun, who was also in his 40s, was taken to Monywa, where a funeral was held on March 30 without the presence of his family.
A resident of Myit Chay, which is located in Magway region near the ancient capital Bagan, said that the families of the other two men have received no information about their fate.
Relatives of both the missing detainees and those who were killed in custody have gone into hiding, the Myit Chay resident added.
The arrests came a day after a street fight broke out in Myit Chay’s 8th Quarter between some local youths and a group of supporters of the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development.
Two of the youth suffered ear injuries, and another received a stab wound to the wrist, according to the doctor who treated them.
The following afternoon, six military trucks entered the quarter and arrested the four men, residents said.
There have been numerous cases around the country of protesters and others, including members of the former ruling party, the National League for Democracy, dying in custody after being tortured by their police or military captors.
The bodies of those killed during crackdowns or following their arrest are often disposed of secretly by regime forces, and their families are never informed.
Cases of protesters and prisoners whose bodies have never been recovered have been reported in Yangon and Mandalay regions, Dawei in Tanintharyi region, Aungban and Muse in Shan state, and Pakokku and Myit Chay in Magway region.
