A senior Myanmar Buddhist monk who survived torture while in military custody in November has died from his wounds, Radio Free Asia has learned.
The Venerable Vayama, 70, who was the head of the monastery in Htan Pin Kone village in the central Mandalay region’s Madaya township and the secretary of the township Sangha council, passed away last Thursday in a hospital where he was being treated for his wounds.
He was arrested at the monastery on Nov. 12 and found a week later on the side of a creek in a village seven miles (11.2 kilometers) away with multiple stab wounds in his belly and neck. Several of his teeth had been extracted, a resident of Htan Pin Kone told RFA.
“The senior monk was taken away for investigation of a complaint,” the resident said. “His car, bank books, checks and money were also confiscated.”
The resident said that when the villagers found his body they took him to Mandalay Hospital.
“He undertook medical treatments for two months and died at the hospital.”
Though it is unclear why the monk was arrested, residents said he was accused of supporting the local people’s defense force, or PDFs, groups of militia that sprung up to resist junta rule after the February 2021 coup.
The residents said that he had never supported any PDF, however.
RFA attempted to contact Thein Htay, the spokesperson for the junta authorities in the Mandalay region, but he was not available.
Torturing an elderly monk was a brutal act by the military, the Venerable Min Thonnya, a monk who is opposed to the junta, told RFA.
Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Eugene Whong.