Type of Incident

Killing and robbery

Date of Incident(s)

July 16th 2020

Incident Location

(Village, Township and District)

Poh Loh Hta village, Ku Thu Hta village Tract, Dwe Lo Township

Victim Information

Name

Naw[3] Mu Naw

Age

38

Sex

Female

Ethnicity

Karen

Family   

Married

Position

Villager

Village

Poh Loh Hta village

Perpetrator Information (Armed Actors)

Name(s)             

Rank

Unit

Base

Commander’s Name

Hein Min Htet

Soldier

LIB #409, MOC #8

Ku Thu Hta army camp

Camp commander: Kyaw Wanna

Battalion commander: Lin Lin Htut 

Deputy battalion commander: Hlu Min Han

Than Soe Lwin

Soldier

LIB #409, MOC #8

Ku Thu Hta army camp

Camp commander: Kyaw Wanna

Battalion commander: Lin Lin Htut

Deputy battalion commander: Hlu Min Han

1. Explain in detail how you collected this information.

A KHRG researcher interviewed the husband and the nephew of the victim. 

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

The sources are relatives of the victim.

Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail.  

On July 16th 2020 at around 1 pm, two Tatmadaw soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion #409, Military Operations Command #8, shot dead a female villager named Naw Mu Naw in Poh Loh Hta village, Ku Thu Hta village Tract, Dwe Loh Township.

The two soldiers, Hein Min Htet and Than Soe Lwin are based in the nearby Ku Thu Hta army camp. They are under the authority of deputy battalion commander HLu Min Han. On the day of the incident, they had lunch at the village monastery. After that, they came into the village and asked where the house of Saw[4] Pu Aye [Naw Mu Naw’s husband] was. Local people showed them the house, but the villagers told them that Saw Pu Aye was not home because he went to Bilin town to take his daughter and son back to school.

Saw Pu Aye used to be a Myanmar government village head, and he now runs a small shop under his house. It is located on the edge of the village, at the base of a hill and near the Poh Loh stream. The soldiers reached the shop, sat down and drank alcohol. Two local villagers also sat down in the shop to keep an eye on them. After the two soldiers were done drinking, they left the village so the two villagers went back to their houses.

A moment later, the two soldiers came back to the shop to ask for a plastic bag so they could bring back djenkol beans. At the time, Saw Pu Aye’s niece was in the shop to visit Naw Mu Naw, so the two soldiers left the village again. After she left, they came back to the house. The neighbour then heard Naw Mu Naw scream, followed by three gunshots.

One of the soldiers shot her three times with his MA-1 [the Tatmadaw’s service assault rifle]. Two bullets hit her in the back and exited through her upper chest and mouth. The other bullet hit her in the back of her head and exited through her left eye. According to local villagers, Hein Min Htet was the one who shot Naw Mu Naw. The two soldiers stole the necklace and one of the earrings she was wearing, after which they ran away from the village. Saw T---, a local villager, was the first to arrive at the scene after the two soldiers left.

Naw Mu Naw was 38 years old. She leaves behind a husband and three children. Her 18-year-old daughter, Naw U---, is a 9th grader at the R--- village high school, Moh Kaw (Moe Kaung Wa) village tract, Thaton Township. Her older son, 15-year-old Saw V---, is attending Grade 5 at the same high school. Her youngest son is 12-year-old Saw W---. On the day of the incident, he was playing with his friends in the village.

The Tatmadaw said that it would prosecute the perpetrators. When the KHRG researcher contacted him [on July 23rd 2020], Saw Pu Aye was in Bilin Township. LIB #409 Battalion Commander Lin Lin Htut asked him to go there to participate in the proceedings.

[At the time of drafting this report, the LIB #409 soldiers that were manning the Ku Thu Hta army camp had been replaced by soldiers from LIB #402]

Did the victim(s) provide permission to use this information? Explain how that permission was provided.

The source gave KHRG permission to use this information for publication.