Type of Incident

Explicit threat

Date of Incident(s)

December 29th 2012

Incident Location

(Village, Township and District)

H--- village, Meh Klaw village tract, Bu Tho Township, Hpapun District

Victim Information

Name        

Age

Sex

Ethnicity

Religion  

Family

Occupation

Responsible

Village

S---

31

Male

Shan

Buddhist

Yes

Brick maker

No

H---

Perpetrator Information

Name   

Rank

Unit

Base   

Commander

Aung Toe

Colonel

No #1 Military Operations Command, Hpapun

Operations Commander’s Office No #1 Military Operations Command, Hpapun Town

Headquarter Commander, Eastern headquarter

1. Explain the specific manner how you collected this information.

The problem in H--- village is that the people who have weapons [armed groups] oppress the villagers. The villagers are saying this because of an incident regarding brick making. The Operations Commander’s soldiers make bricks and a villager, S---, also makes bricks. S--- sells a brick for 4 kyat and 50 cents [US $0.0046][3] but the Operations Commander’s soldiers sell one for 5 kyat [US $.005], so no one buy theirs. So, the Operations Commander’s soldiers called S--- to the Operations Command Office and threatened S--- to make him stop making bricks.  

2. Explain how the source verified information accuracy.

The community member’s father passed away, so he visited his mother and met with S--- in H--- village. While the community member was having a conversation with S---, he learned of this incident. It’s the problem that S--- has faced himself.

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 attach if needed.

The incident happened on December 29th 2012 and it happened in H--- village, Meh Klaw village tract, Bu Tho Township, Mu Traw [Hpapun] District. Hpapun Operations Commander threatened a villager [named] S---, and the reason why they threatened him is described below.

Every building in Hpapun town needs bricks, so the Hpapun Operations Commander’s soldiers from IB [Infantry Battalion] #19, LIB [Light Infantry Battalion] #341 and LIB #434, with the combination of the Operations Commander’s other soldiers, make bricks and sell them to constructors.

This year, 2012, no one in any of the battalions have been making the bricks, so the constructors couldn’t obtain bricks anywhere. Therefore, they asked the villagers to make more bricks to sell to them. Therefore, S--- and his younger brother who is called T--- or P--- from H--- village made bricks to sell to the constructors. S--- makes the bricks carefully and with enough heat that is needed to make the bricks, so the bricks are well made and firm.  They do not easily break and, moreover, their structure is beautiful. S--- sells a brick for 4 kyat and 50 cents in Burmese currency. The Operations Commander and his soldiers sell a brick for 5 kyat and the quality of their bricks is also not good; the constructors don’t buy their bricks anymore and only buy from S---. 

When all of constructors only bought the bricks from S---, the Operations Commander, Colonel Aung Toe, and his soldiers couldn’t sell the bricks anymore. As a result, on December 29th 2012 in the afternoon, one of the Operations Commander’s soldiers from the Operations Command Office arrived and beckoned S---, and S--- followed him. When he arrived at the Operations Command office, the soldier threatened S---: “You should know who you are and the people who are stronger than you or more powerful than you by yourself.  If possible, don’t ever make bricks again.”

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

The information can be used as it is needed.