At least 1,853 people have died in military custody, including 88 children and 125 women, since Myanmar’s military coup – many after being tortured – according to a new U.N. report on the situation of human rights in the country.
Released detainees described a litany of abuses, from being beaten with iron poles and motorcycle chains and being forced to kneel on sharp objects to being raped or getting their fingernails ripped out.
The violence is yet another example of atrocities committed by the junta since taking over the country in a February 2021 coup d'etat, in addition to those perpetrated on civilians across the country.
The number of deaths in custody amounts to an average of four people dying every day for over three years, representing 35% of 5,350 total verified civilian deaths since the coup, said the report, published Tuesday by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The report found that, within the context of raids or ground operations, killings generally occurred within the initial 48 hours of detention, listing “point-blank headshots, executions of handcuffed individuals, and burning of people” as the most common causes of deaths.
A lack of access, communications restrictions and possible military attempts at concealing deaths mean that the number could be higher, it added.
In formal places of detention, most deaths resulted from ill-treatment or lack of adequate healthcare, it said, adding that numerous interviews confirmed deaths of detainees during interrogation, and noted that officials had cremated bodies, “which could conceal the fact of death and destroy other evidence.”
Gruesome list
The U.N. Human Rights Office found that torture and ill-treatment in military custody “has continued to be pervasive,” including both physical and psychological abuse, by officials attempting to obtain information or as punishment.
“Detainees interviewed by our Office described methods, such as being suspended from the ceiling without food or water; being forced to kneel or crawl on hard or sharp objects; use of snakes and insects to instill fear; beatings with iron poles, bamboo sticks, batons, rifle butts, leather strips, electric wires and motorcycle chains; asphyxiation, mock executions; electrocution and burning with tasers, lighters, cigarettes, and boiling water; spraying of methylated substances on open wounds; cutting of body parts and pulling of fingernails,” the report said.
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RFA Burmese spoke with Ah Hla Lay Thuzar, a freelance journalist who was arrested and imprisoned for two years after the coup, who detailed his own torture in detention at the hands of his junta captors.
"I was beaten five times on both thighs with bamboo sticks,” he said. “The pain from the beatings was so intense that I can’t even recall their threats. The strikes with the bamboo sticks still hurt, as my thighs have become too swollen and stiff to touch."
Sexual violence is also common in detention, the U.N. report said, “including rape, and sexualized torture or ill-treatment, including forced nudity in front of others.”
“Vaginal and anal rape, whether committed by an individual or multiple perpetrators, penetration with foreign objects, invasive vaginal searches of women detainees, threats of sexual violence, and sexual humiliation were commonly reported,” it said.
RFA reached out to the junta spokesman for comment but he did not respond.
Brutal conditions
In addition to the daily threat of abuse, released prisoners regularly reported “deteriorating conditions and deplorable treatment” in detention centers.
Interviewees released from 12 prisons across nine states and regions described poorly ventilated cells, often at double capacity with no space to lie down or move around.
Detainees were denied the ability to maintain personal hygiene, physical exercise or religious observance.
“Numerous interviewees described having to eat rotten or half-cooked food, and drink contaminated water, including from toilets containing feces and insects,” the report said.
Additionally, prisons lacked medical supplies, qualified medical staff, and only stocked basic medicines, “which often could only be obtained through payments or bribes to guards.”
Zu Zu May Yoon, the founder of the Women's Organization of Political Prisoners, told RFA that during the COVID-19 pandemic her elderly aunt died in a prison hospital from a heart attack “because she did not receive the timely and effective treatment she urgently needed, especially oxygen.”
Another woman, suffering from kidney disease, died in the hospital ward of the same prison “because she was denied proper treatment, even though she showed symptoms requiring an urgent CT scan.”
And in another case, she said, a pregnant political prisoner “lost her baby in the womb due to delayed care after her water broke during labor."
Call for accountability
In a statement accompanying its report, the U.N. Human Rights Office called for those responsible for gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law to be held accountable.
“The lack of any form of accountability for perpetrators is an enabler for the repetition of violations, abuses and crimes,” the statement said. “It is essential that such behavior be clearly identified and deterred. Accountability for such violations must apply to all perpetrators.”
Based on the findings in the report, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk renewed his recommendation to the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court and called for the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.