Type of Incident

Shoot on sight  

Date of Incident(s)

September 4th 2021

Incident Location

(Village, Township and District)

A--- village, A--- village tract,[2] Paw Township, Doo Tha Htoo District

Victim Information

Name

Naw[3] E---

Saw[4] P---

Age

27

28

Sex

Female

Male

Nationality

Karen

Karen

Family   

Married

Married

Religion

N/A

N/A

Village

A---

A---

Perpetrator Information (Armed Actors)

Name(s)           

Rank

Unit

Base

Commander’s Name

SAC soldiers

Unknown

Unknown

Temporarily based around A--- village

Unknown

1. Explain in detail how you collected this information.

After KHRG learned from the Karen Information Centre (KIC) website that SAC soldiers had shot two villagers on sight, KHRG researchers conducted interviews with two local villagers to gather information about the incident.

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

A KHRG researcher spoke with two villagers who live in A--- village and who are familiar with the incident.

Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail. For each incident, be sure to include 1) when the incident happened, 2) where it happened, 3) what happened, 4) how it happened, 5) who was involved, and 6) why it happened. Also describe any villager response(s) to the incident, the aftermath and the current living situation of the victims. Please use the space prepared below, and create an attachment if needed.

On August 24th 2021, several State Administration Council (SAC)[5] battalions [battalion numbers unknown] attacked and occupied the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)[6] army camp at A--- village. They were able to do so because, earlier in August, two leaders of the local KNLA in Doo Tha Htoo District passed away due to illness [one leader was confirmed to have died of COVID-19; the exact cause of the other leader’s death is unknown], leaving the local KNLA administration within A--- army camp in a fragile state [grieving the deaths of their leaders].

After the SAC occupied the KNLA army camp, about 200 SAC soldiers set up many small temporary bases near A--- village to allow them to defend the territory they were now occupying. The troops imposed a curfew on the community that started at 6:00 p.m. [to 4:00 am]. The curfew has prevented villagers from fishing, hunting, looking after their livestock, and working late on their farms during the evening and night to support their livelihood. After a week of this curfew, villagers were facing difficulties getting sufficient food, especially fish, for their families, so some villagers snuck out of their houses during curfew in order to fish.

On the evening of September 4th, one of the families in A--- village left their house to go to the stream near their house to fish. In the words of local villager, Naw T---, “The army announced a night curfew. But since they [the family] have to find food to eat, they went to search for food. But they just went to search at the stream […] just beside their house.” Saw P--- was going to fish, and his wife, Naw E---, who was five months pregnant, and their 4-year-old daughter did not feel secure staying at home without him due to the presence of SAC troops that were based close to and patrolling in their village. Therefore, Naw E--- and their daughter waited for him at another villager’s house opposite their own while he was fishing. Unfortunately, the family encountered an SAC patrol on their way back to their house. The SAC soldiers questioned them, asking, “Why do you open [turn on] the torch light?” They [the soldiers] then shot at them at about 10:46 pm, while Saw P--- was carrying his daughter in his arms.

Naw E--- was shot approximately 12 times: one shot to her belly, two shots to her head and eight or nine shots to her thighs, until her thighs were destroyed by the bullets. The soldiers shot twice at Saw P---‘s head; both shots struck his head near his right ear, and at least one bullet lodged in his head. Though other villagers heard the gunshots, it was too risky to help them [the couple] immediately due to the curfew and the nightly SAC patrols. Naw T--- said, “No one dared to go there. Everyone stayed silently in their houses. No one dared to go outside of their houses.” Villagers could not help the family until 4:00 am on the morning of September 5th. The couple’s 4-year-old daughter was found with her parents’ bodies when other villagers came to help them the next morning. According to local villager Naw T---, “She [their daughter] was just there. She cried for a long time and after she got tired, she fell asleep. She woke up the next morning, when people went and picked her up [at 4:00 am].”

Naw E--- died shortly after the villagers arrived to help. Saw P--- was alive when the other villagers arrived but he was still unconscious. At approximately 9:00 am on September 5th, three SAC military trucks full of soldiers entered the village and went to the victims’ house. They met with Naw E---‘s mother and told her that they [SAC soldiers] shot them [the couple] because they didn’t obey the 6:00 pm curfew. The soldiers expressed no guilt and offered no apology. They also bribed the victim’s mother by offering her 500,000 kyats [USD 280.90][7] to prevent her from disclosing the killings to the public [she was only given 300,000 kyats [USD 168.54] even though the soldiers originally said they would pay her 500,000 kyats]. One villager, Naw K--- from A--- village, said, “A person’s life cannot be exchanged for 500,000 kyats. Think about that. If their wife or kid gets killed, will they accept the 500,000 kyats as compensation? Two people along with an unborn baby died. We cannot exchange the life of three people for 500,000 kyats. You [anyone] might really feel embittered if your family member gets killed. The civilians are innocent so they should not treat them that way.”

At about noon on September 5th, an ambulance called by the SAC arrived and took the deceased woman and her injured husband to Mawlamyine Hospital. Since the SAC did not want the case to become public, many SAC soldiers guarded them at the hospital and they allowed only two relatives to accompany them to the hospital. At the hospital, medical personnel found that Naw E---‘s unborn child had also died. Her corpse was cremated in Mawlamyine. Saw P--- was transferred to a hospital in Yangon, as medical personnel at Mawlamyine Hospital were unable to treat him. Having received no further communication related to Saw P---, villagers living in A--- village believe that Saw P--- died of his injuries in the hospital in Yangon.

Their 4-year-old daughter is now staying with her [maternal] grandmother and needs mental healthcare services, but she has not received any mental healthcare support or compensation [for raising the child]. Her grandmother has to raise her alone in a difficult and insecure situation. One of the villagers, Naw K---, said, “That 4-year-old girl who was left behind should get social acceptance [understanding/special consideration] because her parents are dead. It will be better if she gets aid. […] The kid still has to obtain education in the future. […] she can live a good life if she lives under the shade [common saying in Karen and Burmese meaning: if she gets protection and access to the opportunities she needs for her future].”

As a consequence of this incident of shooting on sight and of SAC military operations in the community, all villagers, especially women and children, feel unsafe and do not feel secure going anywhere outside of the village. Villagers want the SAC to retreat from their village because their lives will be more peaceful without the soldiers’ presence in the community. As Naw T--- said, “We want to live peacefully. But we feel sad since they [SAC] bully us, the villagers. We don’t know what to do and how to do [live their lives when they are made to feel powerless by the SAC]. They treat us as they want. We want soldiers not to be present here [in the village], so we can work peacefully. But now, we have to be scared. We can’t do anything but be afraid of them. Now we can’t go anywhere. We want to live peacefully. […] I don’t want these soldiers to stay in the village. I want to live peacefully. But now, no one can go to anywhere. We have to worry that they will kill more people. Now they have killed that couple as an example so we have to be more afraid.”

The case has not been taken to either the police or the courts, and the victims’ families remain without access to justice for their children [Naw E--- and Saw P---]. Since there is no justice or accountability under the junta, the victims’ families and other villagers live in fear of the SAC authorities. One villager, Naw K---, demands justice for the two villagers who were shot by the SAC. In her words, “[W]e cannot forgive it [the SAC killing]. We would like them to be charged in accordance with the law. Those who were killed are barely over 20 years of age. They should still be alive. We do not know, they might have become rich people in their future. We do not know, the baby inside her [Naw E---‘s] belly might have become a country’s leader. That baby had to die in the mother’s belly, so there is no justice. It is also linked with ethnic issues because it seems like Karen people are their target.. […] We cannot exchange the life of a person for 500,000 kyats. They [the perpetrators] should face trial in both civilian court and military court. They should resolve this case openly. They should also do so in accordance with the law.”

She also added, “They [SAC military] uses arms against civilians. If everyone is armed [against each other] these hatreds will never end [there will never be peace]. They should not harm the civilians because the civilians are innocent. If a civilian has done something wrong, that person should be punished for what they have done. But now they [the SAC] are arresting and shooting civilians who are innocent. If the country’s situation becomes worse, we will fight as welI.”

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

Local villagers have given KHRG permission to use the information they provided.