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Print:This Incident Report describes events that occurred in A--- village, B--- village tract,[1] Kruh Tuh (Kyonedoe) Township, Dooplaya District on December 15th 2020. A Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA)[2] soldier shot dead a local villager for no apparent reason. The perpetrator was arrested and beaten by other DKBA soldiers, and handed over to the Myanmar Police Force (MPF) later that day. The perpetrator is now recovering from his injuries at the hospital. The DKBA leaders met with the victim’s family once but there was no discussion of support for the family. No information has been received from the MPF, who are now handling the case. This incident is a clear violation of sections 9(b) of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA)[3] and 7(B) of the Code of Conduct, which forbid the signatories from killing civilians in ceasefire areas.[4]
Part 1 – Incident Details
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Type of Incident |
Killing |
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Date of Incident(s) |
December 15th, 2020 |
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Incident Location (Village, Township and District) |
A--- village, B--- village tract, Kruh Tuh Township, Dooplaya District
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Victim Information |
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Name |
C--- |
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Age |
24 |
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Sex |
Male |
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Nationality |
Mon |
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Family |
Married |
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Occupation |
Day labourer |
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Religion |
Buddhist |
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Village |
A--- village, B--- village tract, Kruh Tuh Township, Dooplaya District |
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Perpetrator Information |
||||
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Name(s) |
Rank |
Unit |
Base |
Commander’s Name |
|
Win Thu |
Soldier |
DKBA headquarters |
Toh Pway Leh Kloh Place |
General Saw Mo Shay |
Part 2 - Information Quality
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1. Explain in detail how you collected this information. |
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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. |
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2. Explain how the source verified this information. |
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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]. |
Part 3 – Complete Description of the Incident
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Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail. |
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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. |
Part 4 - Permission for Using the Details
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Did the victim(s) provide permission to use this information? Explain how that permission was provided. |
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The two sources provided permission to use this information. |
This photo was taken on December 15th 2020 in A--- village, B--- village tract, Kruh Tuh Township, Dooplaya District. It shows the body of C---, a 24-year-old Mon villager who was shot dead by Win Thu, a Mon DKBA soldier. [Photo: local villager]
Footnotes:
[1] A village tract is an administrative unit of between five and 20 villages in a local area, often centred on a large village.
[2] In 1994, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) split from the KNLA over religious considerations. In 2010, the majority of DKBA troops transformed into BGFs, but one faction refused and changed its name to Democratic Karen Benevolent Army in 2012. The DKBA signed the NCA on October 15th 2015.
[3] On October 15th 2015, after a negotiation process marred with controversy over the notable non-inclusion of several ethnic armed groups, a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) was signed between the Burma/Myanmar government and eight of the fifteen ethnic armed groups originally invited to the negotiation table, including the Karen National Union. It was followed by the adoption of a Code of Conduct by the signatories in November 2015. In February 2018, two additional ethnic armed groups signed the NCA under pressure from the Burma/Myanmar government.
[4] The present document is based on information received in December 2020. It was provided by a community member in Dooplaya District who has been trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions on the ground. The names of the victims, their photos and the exact locations are censored for security reasons. The parts in square brackets are explanations added by KHRG.
[5] Saw is a S'gaw Karen male honorific title used before a person's name.
[6] Naw is a S'gaw Karen female honorific title used before a person's name.
