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Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
Two ex army Myanmar testified through a video about the atrocities committed against the Muslim ethnic minority Rohingya. This was revealed by a human rights group, Fortify Rights, on Tuesday (8/9).
The confession was shared by Myo Win Tun (33) and Zaw Naing Tun (30) and was recorded in July when the soldiers were in the custody of the Arakan Army, a rebel ethnic group in Rakhine that is involved in an armed conflict with the government. .
The video also includes an English translation. Fortify Rights has uploaded the video to a video sharing site.
Associated Press He could not confirm whether the two former soldiers made statements under pressure.
In a separate video, the two soldiers are seen sitting stiffly in military uniforms while off-screen male voices ask them questions.
The details when answering each question and answer about events that occurred about three years ago, prove that the content was previously prepared.
But their accounts represent a host of atrocity reports compiled by United Nations (UN) investigators and independent human rights workers. They collected information from Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Myo Win Tun said that his superior, Than Htike ordered him to shoot whatever it was when he attacked Rohingya villages. In one operation, the Myanmar army killed and buried 30 people, namely eight women, seven children, 15 men and the elderly.
He said his unit had shot people directly in the forehead and kicked their bodies into holes. His unit also raped women before they were killed. Win Tun admitted to rape.
His unit also took cell phones, laptops and confiscated livestock. Meanwhile, Zaw Naing Tun recounted how his unit “razed” 20 Rohingya villages.
About 80 people died, including children, adults and the elderly. The assassination was approved by his battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Myo Myint Aung.
In one incident, ten villagers suspected of belonging to the Rohingya rebel group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, were arrested and tied up. They were then shot by order of the captain. Naing Tun admitted that he was one of the shooters.
Naing Tun also admitted to being at the scene when a sergeant and a corporal raped three Rohingya women while searching the home. But she admitted that she did not commit any rape.
He participated in the looting when he broke into the market, his unit officers said “what you take is what you get.”
“We went into the market, we broke locks and doors, then we took out money, gold, clothes, food and cell phones,” he said.
The testimony is the Myanmar military’s first public recognition of its involvement in massacres, rapes and other crimes against the Rohingya in the predominantly Buddhist country.
Fortify Rights said the two former soldiers fled Myanmar last month and are believed to be in the custody of the Netherlands’ International Criminal Court, which examines violence against the Rohingya ethnic group.
Fortify Rights said the two former soldiers asked the Bangladeshi authorities for protection in August.
Bangladeshi officials then conveyed their presence to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and said the two were no longer in Bangladesh.
“This admission demonstrates what we have known for a long time, namely that the Myanmar military is a well-functioning national army operating with a specific and centralized command structure,” Fortify Rights chief Matthew Smith said. it’s a statement.
“The commander controls, directs and orders his subordinates. In this case, the commander ordered the soldiers to carry out acts of genocide and exterminate the Rohingya, and that’s what they did,” he said.
Fortify Rights is pushing for the two former soldiers to be tried by the ICC and placed in a witness protection program.
(years / dea)
[Gambas:Video CNN]
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