AP Investigation: Myanmar’s junta using bodies to terrorize
By ROBIN McDOWELL and MARGIE MASON
Published: May 26, 2021
Myanmar has a long, tumultuous history of coups, military control, and ethnic conflicts.
A junta seized power in 1962, ending 14 years of civilian rule. That began five decades of censorship, mass arrests, disappearances, and dark isolation, resulting in harsh international sanctions that placed it roughly on par with North Korea.
Then in 2011, the country became the darling of the Obama administration and other Western governments when it started moving toward quasi-civilian rule and implementing political reforms as part of its long-promised “roadmap to democracy.”
But, despite the newfound freedoms and political reforms in the past decade — from the first ATMs and KFC restaurants to high-speed Internet and smartphones — the military never really relinquished control.
A quarter of the seats in parliament were reserved for those in uniform, and the armed forces held onto key ministries. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, now chairman of the junta’s State Administrative Council, also had the power to impose a state of emergency if he felt national security was at risk.
But after the party headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi won a landslide election last November, the military, known as the Tatmadaw, cried voter fraud. That triggered the February takeover and an emergency declaration, transferring all power to the top commander, on the morning the new parliament was set to begin.
Suu Kyi — who earlier supported security forces during their violent crackdown on ethnic Rohingya Muslims — and other leaders of her National League for Democracy party were put under house arrest. Hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life poured into the streets nationwide in protest.
Video from March 26, 2021, left, shows security forces pulling the body of an unidentified person into a military truck in Myeik, Myanmar. Right, a March 13, 2021 video shows security forces carrying the body of an unidentified person in the Sein Pann ward of Mandalay.
Nineteen-year-old Kyal Sin, better known as Angel, became a high-profile case after being shot in the head March 3 during a protest in Mandalay, galvanizing supporters to wear T-shirts and banners bearing her image. Thousands, outraged by her death, gathered for her funeral the next day.
But later that night, the flowers were removed from her grave and MRTV state television said her body had been exhumed by authorities so an official autopsy could be carried out, exonerating the police. All that remained at the site afterward was a bloody latex glove and other strewn debris.
Authorities later released a death certificate saying the bullet that killed her didn’t match the caliber used by police, and that it came from the wrong direction for security forces to be responsible.
Shootings by soldiers and police were the reason Ye Yint Naing’s mother had forbidden him to join a protest in northern Shan State. But that didn’t stop the 15-year-old — he simply skipped breakfast that morning and snuck out while she was busy washing clothes in the back of the house.
He quickly met up with friends and headed to the rally, but an hour later tensions began to explode. After activists set a car on fire, Myanmar security forces responded by shooting into the crowd.
Ye Yint Naing was hit and fell to the ground. As he lay bleeding and calling for help, his friends watched paralyzed for two hours, unable to reach him because they feared they would be shot by a sniper standing watch, his brother told AP.
When the gunfire finally stopped, Ye Yint Naing’s motionless body was loaded into an ambulance and driven away. Social media posts provided the first clues for family members about what happened to him.
A picture posted on Facebook by a sympathetic worker at a local cemetery showed them where the body was ultimately taken. Once there, Ye Yint Naing was cremated — which goes against Muslim burial customs — following an order by police.
“They actually wanted to hide the dead body,” his brother said, adding he was able to get a bag with ashes and bits of bone to bury. “I have to say, ‘Thank you,’ to the person who cremated the body and took the photo. If not, it would have been hard for our family to find my younger brother because we would not know where he was taken.”
Other secret cremations were confirmed in a mountainous trading town in the same state. Military trucks carrying soldiers and police rumbled into Aungban to stamp out a protest early on March 19th, firing off tear gas and bullets that left at least eight people dead, a witness told the AP.
Images from the scene posted on social media, showed one bloodied body lying next to a curb, and video captured men dressed in black uniforms kicking debris and randomly shooting their guns.
Security forces brought most of the corpses to the local cemetery that night and days later. They broke locks on the crematorium and used car tires to burn several bodies, witnesses said, until “all that remained was ash.”
Terrified that their loved ones will not receive proper burials, some family members have started hiding bodies, racing to get them buried before security forces can claim them.
That was the case with 13-year-old Htoo Myat Win. He was hit in the chest by a stray bullet while sitting inside his home in the central town of Shwebo, Sagaing Region.
Video posted online showed security forces shooting while walking through the street, and a neighbor who witnessed the boy’s death confirmed to AP that they were “spraying bullets” at houses.
Authorities came to ask the family for the boy’s body, but they refused to hand it over and instead hid it at a local temple, the neighbor said, declining to give his name fearing retribution. “They cremated him the next day.”
Soon after, other NLD members were hauled in for questioning. Some of them would never return alive. Party officials said that family members were prohibited from collecting the body of one man who died at an interrogation center. Two other NLD members were returned as corpses to relatives the next day, drawing a sharp rebuke from the U.S. State Department.
Photos and videos posted on social media from several locations, and analyzed by the HRC Lab, show they appear to have been tortured, with the skin partially peeled from one man’s face. Another had dried blood on his head and bruises covering his body.
“Just tell people he had a heart attack and died,” a man who attended the cleaning of one victim’s body told AP, recalling what doctors told family members.
Despite the attacks on NLD members, the anti-military demonstrations continued. Ordinary citizens soon found themselves targets of soldiers and police.
This month, relatives of one man in Bago Region’s Pyay Township said security forces arrived at their home with guns drawn.
After beating 33-year-old Aung Khaing Myit, his sister told AP they took him away for questioning about his suspected involvement in a bomb blast. She said the officers swore nothing would happen to him, but he was heard screaming in a nearby room before falling silent.
The next day, the family was taken to a military hospital. They were told Aung Khaing Myit died while trying to jump out of a transport vehicle and that he was already placed inside a coffin. His sister said they were allowed to look at his bruised face, but not his entire body, and then authorities took him away for cremation over their objections.
“We knew they beat him to death,” she said. “But they tried to lie to us.”
And even if bodies are returned to families, it doesn’t mean they will be buried and left to rest in peace.
In this March 4, 2021 file photo, a man holds a picture of 19-year-old Kyal Sin during her burial in Mandalay, Myanmar. (AP Photo)
In this March 3, 2021 file photo, the body of 19-year-old Kyal Sin lies in a coffin at the Yunnan Chinese temple. (AP Photo)
In this March 3, 2021 file photo, people mourn over the body of 19-year-old Kyal Sin. (AP Photo)
Nineteen-year-old Kyal Sin, better known as Angel, became a high-profile case after being shot in the head March 3 during a protest in Mandalay, galvanizing supporters to wear T-shirts and banners bearing her image. Thousands, outraged by her death, gathered for her funeral the next day.
But later that night, the flowers were removed from her grave and MRTV state television said her body had been exhumed by authorities so an official autopsy could be carried out, exonerating the police. All that remained at the site afterward was a bloody latex glove and other strewn debris.
Authorities later released a death certificate saying the bullet that killed her didn’t match the caliber used by police, and that it came from the wrong direction for security forces to be responsible.
Shootings by soldiers and police were the reason Ye Yint Naing’s mother had forbidden him to join a protest in northern Shan State. But that didn’t stop the 15-year-old — he simply skipped breakfast that morning and snuck out while she was busy washing clothes in the back of the house.
He quickly met up with friends and headed to the rally, but an hour later tensions began to explode. After activists set a car on fire, Myanmar security forces responded by shooting into the crowd.
Ye Yint Naing was hit and fell to the ground. As he lay bleeding and calling for help, his friends watched paralyzed for two hours, unable to reach him because they feared they would be shot by a sniper standing watch, his brother told AP.
When the gunfire finally stopped, Ye Yint Naing’s motionless body was loaded into an ambulance and driven away. Social media posts provided the first clues for family members about what happened to him.
A picture posted on Facebook by a sympathetic worker at a local cemetery showed them where the body was ultimately taken. Once there, Ye Yint Naing was cremated — which goes against Muslim burial customs — following an order by police.
“They actually wanted to hide the dead body,” his brother said, adding he was able to get a bag with ashes and bits of bone to bury. “I have to say, ‘Thank you,’ to the person who cremated the body and took the photo. If not, it would have been hard for our family to find my younger brother because we would not know where he was taken.”
Other secret cremations were confirmed in a mountainous trading town in the same state. Military trucks carrying soldiers and police rumbled into Aungban to stamp out a protest early on March 19th, firing off tear gas and bullets that left at least eight people dead, a witness told the AP.
Images from the scene posted on social media, showed one bloodied body lying next to a curb, and video captured men dressed in black uniforms kicking debris and randomly shooting their guns.
Security forces brought most of the corpses to the local cemetery that night and days later. They broke locks on the crematorium and used car tires to burn several bodies, witnesses said, until “all that remained was ash.”
Terrified that their loved ones will not receive proper burials, some family members have started hiding bodies, racing to get them buried before security forces can claim them.
That was the case with 13-year-old Htoo Myat Win. He was hit in the chest by a stray bullet while sitting inside his home in the central town of Shwebo, Sagaing Region.
Video posted online showed security forces shooting while walking through the street, and a neighbor who witnessed the boy’s death confirmed to AP that they were “spraying bullets” at houses.
Authorities came to ask the family for the boy’s body, but they refused to hand it over and instead hid it at a local temple, the neighbor said, declining to give his name fearing retribution. “They cremated him the next day.”
In this March 23, 2021 file photo, the body of a man who a doctor said was shot and killed by Myanmar security forces during an anti-military takeover protest, lies on a stretcher in Mandalay, Myanmar. (AP Photo)
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said there is a clear legal procedure in place when people die. Families are informed and autopsies are carried out.
“We never hide this number,” he said at a press conference earlier this month.
However, the military has put the total killed nationwide at about 300, stressing that nearly 50 police have also died in the violence. Earlier, state-run TV called the more widely used figures from AAPP “fake” news, even though the highly regarded Thailand-based monitoring group often includes the victims’ names, ages and photographs. It also details how and where they died as part of its tally, helping bolster the credibility of those numbers.
Ko Bo Kyi, the group’s co-founder, noted the junta also claimed hundreds — instead of thousands — died during some of the country’s biggest pro-democracy protests in 1988. He added that, just as in the past, their goal now is to maintain a climate of fear and uncertainty that immobilizes people and breaks their will.
“They believe if they kill, torture, and arrest the protesters, they can stop the demonstrations,” he said.
But access to technology and social media since the recent military takeover could eventually be used to help build an international criminal case against the junta, while also making it difficult for foreign donors and developed nations to turn a blind eye to what could one day be classified as crimes against humanity.
Learn more about the investigation by the AP and the Human Rights Center Investigations Lab at UC Berkeley. (AP Video/Manuel Valdes)
“It’s a whole new ballgame in terms of evidence in a way that will make prosecution possible many years from now if need be,” said Richard Dicker, International Justice director at the nonprofit Human Rights Watch, noting that video footage from smartphones has also been used in other uprisings and conflicts, including crimes committed in Syria. “That wouldn’t have been viable (in the past) because the evidence would have disappeared.”
Still, despite the fact that security forces are aware their actions are being filmed, posted online, and seen around the world, they have continued their attacks on civilians unabated. Dicker said authoritarian governments have long silenced their opponents.
Normally, he added, these kinds of atrocities occur at night in the shadows. “What’s new is that it is taking place on the streets and in public view.”
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Associated Press journalist Kiko Rosario contributed to this report from Bangkok.