WUNRN
BURMA/MYANMAR - 15-Year-Old Girl
Raped & Brutally Murdered (On Her Birthday), Allegedly by Soldiers -
No Action to Prosecute
Asian
Human Rights Commission - Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-224-2008
9 October 2008
BURMA: Rape & Brutal Murder of 15-Year-Old Schoolgirl Allegedly by
Soldiers - Autopsy - Reportage - Inaction & Impunity to Date
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has followed with concern reports that a group of soldiers raped and killed a teenage schoolgirl in the north of Burma. It has since obtained detailed information on the case and learned that although it was reported to the police so far no action has been taken to prosecute the accused and instead the family of the victim has been silenced.
CASE DETAILS
As was widely reported in August, on 27 July 2008 a group of soldiers stationed in the north of Burma near the border with China allegedly raped and killed 15-year-old schoolgirl Nhkum Hkawn Din as she was walking about a mile away from her village, taking food for her brother who was working in farmlands.
According to relatives, Hkawn Din had not come back by evening time but as it was her birthday they had thought that she had gone to meet friends and attend church. The next day they learned that she had not met her brother and they searcher for her but couldn't find her. Finally, her naked body was recovered on July 30 in bushes not far from an illegal army checkpoint used for allowing cross-border trade in motorcycles, which is between the village and the area of fields where Hkawn Din's brother was working. She had multiple stab wounds to her neck, shoulder, chest, abdomen and vagina, and with a mutilated face and head injuries.
The village headman immediately referred the case to the police and the body was sent for an autopsy, and it was found that two or three people had raped and killed her. However, instead of taking action the police reportedly claimed that there was insufficient evidence to identify the accused. This is even though there was ample material and eyewitness evidence.
According to sources, one eyewitness passed by Hkawn Din on her way to the fields and about five minutes after saw two soldiers going the same way, not in full uniform, one with a gun and the other with a bayonet, and both of them from the local army post. Another witness staying nearby the illegal checkpoint said that two soldiers had been in the vicinity on the morning of July 27 and seemed to be looking around for something. A third witness said that around midday two soldiers had passed him by in the paddy fields nearby the checkpoint. One had a gun and was wet and the other was stumbling. He assumed that they were in a rush hunting for someone bringing motorcycles illegally.
After the battalion commander heard about the case, he reportedly ordered all the soldiers in the village (around five) be dispatched to other locations. Then, under intense local pressure on August 14 the army detained one of the three accused soldiers and transferred him into police custody, although it sent two other soldiers rather than police to stay on guard at the watch house. But according to reports, on August 17 a group of army and police officers and township officials came to visit the family and offered them a sack of milled rice, some sugar, cooking oil and condensed milk and half-a-million Kyat (about USD 420) to settle the matter. Since then there has been no further progress in the case.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
It is widely recognised that soldiers, police and government officials in Burma enjoy impunity for criminal acts, including rape and murder, due both to their official positions and capacity to intimidate complainants. See for instance some of the cases documented by the AHRC: UA-224-2007; UP-094-2007; UA-096-2007; UA-222-2006; UA-198-2006.
See also the comprehensive reports "Burma, political psychosis and legal dementia" and "Saffron Revolution imprisoned, law demented" issued by the AHRC’s sister organisation, as well as the 2007 AHRC Human Rights Report chapter on Burma.
AHRC Suggested Advocacy Action - See Website
http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2008/3029/
Asian Human Rights Commission
19/F, Go-Up Commercial Building,
998 Canton Road, Kowloon, Hongkong S.A.R.
Tel: +(852) - 2698-6339 Fax: +(852) - 2698-6367
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