Myanmar military personnel captured by the Arakan Army as part of its campaign against the junta will be investigated and tried — and could be sentenced to death for war crimes, sources told RFA this week.
Thousands of POWs are being held by the Arakan Army, or AA, which alongside the National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army – which together call themselves the “Three Brotherhood Alliance” – has made significant gains in recent months against Myanmar’s military government.
Prisoners of war are being questioned for any alleged involvement in atrocities. When sufficient evidence is uncovered, prisoners will be charged and tried under the AA’s military and civil law, sources close to Arakan Army leadership told RFA.
"We will take decisive action to get justice for the victims of war crimes," said Khaing Thukha, a spokesperson for the rebel group.
Prisoners found guilty of war crimes will be sentenced to death, while those who committed lesser crimes will face imprisonment, according to sources close to the group who declined to be identified because they are not allowed to speak publicly on official matters.
The cases will be carried out in courts that the group has established since 2020, when it first gained control over portions of Rakhine state, according to a former parliamentarian from Rakhine.
"The judiciary sector is also managed by civilian experts,” the parliamentarian said. “The AA has invited civil law experts to ensure independent legal proceedings against POWs without their influence.”
Closed to public, no lawyers
But sources said the proceedings will be closed to the public and that POWs will not be given legal representation. That lack of basic rights appears to put the Arakan Army in violation of international humanitarian law, which requires even non-state actors to follow certain rules of conduct toward detainees.
Myanmar is one of a few dozen countries to still have the death penalty, although it hadn’t been enforced until the junta removed the civilian government in a February 2021 coup. Military leaders have since come under fire from human rights campaigners and the Myanmar public for carrying out executions for the first time in three decades.
There are currently 121 prisoners on death row, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. More than 1,500 people have died in military custody since the coup. In the three years since the junta came to power, at least 8,000 civilians have been killed, with the military responsible for the vast majority.
As fighting has intensified since the start of the “1027 operation” – the Three Brotherhood Alliance’s offensive launched on Oct. 27 – hundreds of thousands of residents of Rakhine state alone have had to flee their homes amid junta bombardments.
The latest atrocities represent just a fraction of those committed by the junta in recent years, which U.N. investigators said last year were “increasing [in] frequency and brazenness.”
If the AA were to follow the junta’s lead in withholding fair trial rights, however, they could lose both a legal and moral high ground, and undermine efforts to convince further junta defections, said Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington, who has advised the shadow National Unity Government – made up of former civilian leaders – on their responsibilities under international law.
“There’s a legal obligation. But secondarily if you believe you are the legitimate government out there, this further binds you,” Abuza said. “Strategically, if you want to encourage defections, that becomes difficult if you’re seen as mistreating POWs and committing war crimes.”
Thousands of soldiers have been arrested or surrendered since the three ethnic armed organizations began gaining significant territory in late October. At least 600 people have been captured in the AA-held territory of Kyauktaw township alone, including soldiers and their family members, sources close to the rebel group told RFA.
"Surrenderees have been sent to safe places,” one of the sources said. “They are well treated and being interrogated. Males and females are held separately. They get meals and medical treatments.”
Another local said that villagers each day prepared food for the POWs and their families, who are being held both in AA-controlled villages and in the custody of AA outposts.
Filmed confessions
On Thursday morning, the AA released a video in which two captured military officers confessed to killing seven people who they had detained, including a reporter and a well-known rapper in Rakhine’s Mrauk-u town.
RFA cannot confirm the circumstances under which the confessions were obtained nor can we confirm the identity of the named officers, but both said they took the prisoners from their jail cells on Jan. 23 and killed them before having their bodies buried and hidden.
Khaing Thu Kha, the AA spokesperson, said the officers would be tried under local law but declined to answer questions about the terms of the confession or give details on any forthcoming trial.
Phil Robertson, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division, urged the AA to “release the full evidence that they have gathered against the accused officers in addition to the confessions so that all the people of Rakhine state and Myanmar can know what happened.
“The AA should also state clearly what they planned to do with the accused officers and consult on how to ensure justice is done in the case," he said.
The wife of journalist Phoe Thiha, who also went by Myat Thu Tun, told RFA that she wants the perpetrators punished, pointing to the gravity of the extrajudicial murders that took place as the men were awaiting trial.
“They were taken away in handcuffs, closing their eyes,” said Ohnmar Shwesin Myint. “I dare not imagine how they were shot. My heart has broken. I request justice for the victims."
Translated by Aung Naing for RFA Burmese. Edited by Abby Seiff and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.
By RFA Burmese | Radio Free (2024-02-29T21:11:41+00:00) Arakan Army says it will investigate and try captured junta soldiers. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2024/02/29/arakan-army-says-it-will-investigate-and-try-captured-junta-soldiers/
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