Type of Incident

Killing

Date of Incident(s)

December 15th, 2020

Incident Location

(Village, Township and District)

A--- village, B--- village tract, Kruh Tuh Township, Dooplaya District 

Victim Information

Name

C---

Age

24

Sex

Male

Nationality

Mon

Family   

Married

Occupation

Day labourer

Religion

Buddhist

Village

A--- village, B--- village tract, Kruh Tuh Township, Dooplaya District 

Perpetrator Information

Name(s)           

Rank

Unit

Base

Commander’s Name

Win Thu

Soldier

DKBA headquarters

Toh Pway Leh Kloh Place

General Saw Mo Shay

1. Explain in detail how you collected this information.

The B--- village tract administrator contacted me [KHRG researcher] to inform me about this incident and put me in contact with a witness. I later interviewed both of them.

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

The B--- village tract administrator took photos at the crime scene. The witness experienced this incident first hand [he was there when the victim was shot].

Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail.

The victim is C---. He is a 24-year-old Mon villager from A--- village, B--- village tract, Kruh Tuh Township, Dooplaya District. On December 15th 2020, at 10 am, he and Saw[5] D---, one of his friends, went to inform Win Thu, a Mon DKBA soldier manning a checkpoint near A--- village, that they wanted to cut down a tree. When the two villagers arrived at the checkpoint, they entered the hut next to it and sat down. C--- then told Win Thu that they would like to cut down a tree.

[For unknown reasons,] Win Thu got angry and muttered to them: “You are so crafty [he seemed to believe that their request was unreasonable, so they must be trying to trick him].” He then went into his room and grabbed a 9mm handgun. He put the gun to C---’s forehead and shot him once. The bullet went through C---’s skull. He died on the spot. Saw D---, who witnessed the incident, told KHRG: “We did not even get to sit down and talk about the logging properly. If he had fired twice, I might be dead as well. My heart almost stopped when I saw it.”

The perpetrator is 45 years old and is known to have a short temper. Local people know him as a soldier [with no higher rank] from the DKBA headquarters in Toh Pway Leh Kloh Place, Htee Guh Thaw village tract, Kruh Tuh Township. He was arrested and beaten by his group [DKBA] after the incident. The DKBA eventually called the Myanmar Police Force (MPF) in Kawkareik Town. The MPF arrived at the scene later that day, arrested the perpetrator and took the dead body with them. They sent the body back to the family on December 16th.

The Myanmar Police Force sent the perpetrator to the hospital to treat the injuries he suffered during the beating. At the time of reporting, it was unclear what kind of legal action would be taken against him, but the case is now in the hands of the MPF.  

C--- is survived by his wife, Naw[6] E---, and two children. The victim’s family has not yet received any support [or information about compensation] even though they were called to meet with DKBA leaders once already. The DKBA told them that they are busy at the moment. The case has not been resolved. The village tract administrator told KHRG that he met with the DKBA leaders once as well but they gave him no answer about support yet. Therefore, he said he would talk to the DKBA leaders about this matter again. No further information has been received from the MPF, who are handling the case.

The family of the victim is waiting for the case to be resolved. Once they receive support [compensation] from the DKBA and the case is resolved, they plan to return to the village of the wife’s family because they worry for their security in A--- village.

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

The two sources provided permission to use this information.