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Karen Human Rights Group

BGF #1014 Warrant Officer injures villagers and steals property in Hpapun District, January and May 2013

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Between January and May 2013, Border Guard Force (BGF)[2] #1014 Warrant Officer Saw Day Day was blamed for two notable incidents in P--- village, Htee Th’Daw Tha village tract, Bu Tho Township, Hpapun District. According to the community member, Saw Day Day, who is led by Company Commander Bo[3] Ye’ Thway under the command of Battalion Commander Bo Maung Chit, injured a villager and her son while drunk and was involved a few months later in the widespread theft and re-selling of villager products.

Saw Day Day entered P--- village while he was inebriated on the afternoon of January 15th 2013 as 23-year-old Naw Eh--- was breast-feeding her son at the rear of their house. Naw Eh--- said, “When he saw me sitting with my son, he asked me if I had gasoline or not. I answered him honestly that I didn’t have gasoline, as I really didn’t have it, but my answer angered Saw Day Day, so he started preparing to shoot me with his 40 mm mortar.[4] A few seconds after his preparations, the sound of the mortar went off and I knew that it was not an accident, but that he intentionally shot me.” Naw Eh--- was struck on her calf by the grenade, which failed to explode.[5] Her son was also injured when the grenade grazed his back.

As a result, Naw Eh--- received six stitches on her calf and her son got three stitches. They went to Myaing Gyi Ngu National Hospital, known as Hkaw Taw Hpoh Hospital in Karen, where treatment cost 250,000 kyat (US $258),[6] of which Ye’ Thway paid 100,000 kyat (US $103.20). Naw Eh--- also told the community member that villagers in the area faced many other unspecified abuses around this time, but have kept quiet due to a lack of media presence in their area.

The community member also implicated Saw Day Day in another incident occurring in the same village. On May 23th 2013 Saw Day Day and other BGF soldiers stole dog fruit[7] belonging to villagers and re-sold them in another town. Victim Saw Hs--- reported that, “The BGF soldiers came into our village and took our dog fruit with them. They went to K’Ma Maung town to sell them. Sometimes they even went around in the village and sold them house to house.” Villagers fled to Myaing Gyi Ngu, fearing forced labour might accompany the theft. Some villagers also left for Mae La Oon refugee camp in northern Thailand out of concerns that the Hatgyi Dam might flood the area in the rainy season. Only five households remain in P--- village. According to the community member, the few villagers who continue to stay are too afraid to complain to BGF authorities about perceived abuses despite the difficulties they have faced.