{"id":2263,"date":"2020-09-08T07:58:40","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T07:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/?p=2263"},"modified":"2020-09-14T08:12:57","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T08:12:57","slug":"international-criminal-court-prosecute-and-offer-witness-protection-to-myanmar-army-deserters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/international-criminal-court-prosecute-and-offer-witness-protection-to-myanmar-army-deserters\/","title":{"rendered":"International Criminal Court: Prosecute and Offer Witness Protection to Myanmar Army Deserters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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Two Myanmar Army soldiers now in ICC custody in The Hague<\/em><\/h1>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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(BANGKOK, September 8, 2020)\u2014The International Criminal Court (ICC) should swiftly prosecute two Myanmar Army soldiers who confessed to their involvement in massacres, rape, and other crimes against Rohingya in Myanmar, and\u00a0the court should\u00a0facilitate witness protection for them, said Fortify Rights today. Fortify Rights has reason to believe Myanmar Army Private Myo Win Tun, 33, and Private Zaw Naing Tun, 30, are in the custody of the ICC and in The Hague.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a monumental moment for Rohingya and the people of Myanmar in their ongoing struggle for justice,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer at Fortify Rights.\u00a0\u201c<\/em>These men could be the first perpetrators from Myanmar tried at the ICC, and the first insider witnesses in the custody of the court. We expect prompt action.<\/em>\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fortify Rights obtained and analyzed two videos showing the confessions of Private Myo Win Tun of Myanmar Army Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 565 and Private Zaw Naing Tun of LIB 353. LIBs 565 and 353 were operational in Rakhine State during military-led \u201cclearance operations\u201d against Rohingya civilians in 2016 and 2017.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Private Zaw Naing Tun, 30, of Myanmar LIB 353, confesses to killings, burying bodies in mass graves, and other crimes against Rohingya Muslims in five villages in Maungdaw Township during the 2017 \u201cclearance operations.\u201d \u00a9Arakan Army, July 8, 2020<\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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In the unpublished confessions, Myo Win Tun describes his involvement in killing Rohingya women, men, and children, and he admits to rape in Taung Bazar village and surrounding villages in Buthidaung Township in September 2017. Zaw Naing Tun confesses to his involvement in killings, burying bodies in mass graves, and other crimes against Rohingya in five villages in Maungdaw Township during the Myanmar Army\u2019s 2017 \u201cclearance operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The soldiers provide the names and\u00a0ranks of 19 direct perpetrators from the Myanmar Army, including themselves, as well as six senior commanders in the Myanmar Army whom they claim ordered or contributed to atrocity crimes against Rohingya,\u00a0including a lieutenant colonel, a colonel, and three captains.<\/p>\n

Both men separately claimed to be acting on orders from senior commanders to \u201cexterminate all [Rohingya],\u201d to \u201cshoot all that you see and that you hear,\u201d and to \u201ckill all\u201d Rohingya in specific areas. Significantly, both men were operational in two separate townships, simultaneously following orders under different commanders, which may indicate operational consistency between battalions, coordination, and intent to commit genocide.<\/p>\n

Myo Win Tun, 33, is an ethnic Shanni originally from Mohnyin Township in Myanmar\u2019s Kachin State. He was a private in the Myanmar Army from April 2016 until he deserted his ranks in Rakhine State in May 2020. Zaw Naing Tun, 30, is an ethnic Rakhine originally from Ramree Township, Rakhine State. He was forcibly conscripted into the Myanmar Army in March 2016 and served as a private until he deserted his ranks in Rakhine State in June 2020.<\/p>\n

The Arakan Army\u2014an ethnic armed group currently engaged in armed conflict with the Myanmar Army in Rakhine State\u2014filmed Myo Win Tun\u2019s confession on July 23, 2020 and filmed Zaw Naing Tun\u2019s confession on July 8, 2020.<\/p>\n

In mid-August, the two men appeared on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, requesting protection from Bangladesh authorities. As a state party to the Rome Statute, Dhaka notified the ICC of the presence of the two former soldiers. According to the legal counsel for the Government of Bangladesh, the men are no longer in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

The filmed confessions appear to be credible, said Fortify Rights. The information described in the confessions is consistent with human rights documentation of the 2016 and 2017 Myanmar Army-led \u201cclearance operations\u201d against Rohingya in northern Rakhine State. For instance, Zaw Naing Tun and Myo Win Tun identify six LIBs as responsible for crimes against Rohingya\u2014 LIBs 345, 353, 551, 552, 564, and 565.\u00a0Fortify Rights<\/a>\u00a0as well as the\u00a0Independent International Fact-Finding Mission<\/a>\u00a0on Myanmar previously identified these six\u00a0LIBs, and others, as involved in genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya in 2017.<\/p>\n

Myo Win Tun confesses to his involvement in destroying Rohingya villages in the vicinity of Taung Bazar in Buthidaung Township in September 2017. He also admits to rape, his involvement in the killings of 30 men, women, and children in Taung Bazar, and the additional killings of 60 to 70 civilians in \u201cvillage after village\u201d in the vicinity of Taung Bazar. Zaw\u00a0Naing Tun similarly confesses that he and his battalion\u00a0\u201cwiped out\u201d 20 Rohingya villages in Maungdaw Township in September 2017 and that he participated in the killing of an estimated 80 civilians, \u201cincluding children, adults, women, and even elderly people\u201d through coordinated massacres.<\/p>\n

Based on these confessions alone, these two men may be directly responsible for killing up to 180 Rohingya civilians.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Private Myo Win Tun, 33, of Myanmar Army LIB 565, confesses to rape and killing Rohingya women, men, and children in Taung Bazar village and surrounding villages in Buthidaung Township in September 2017. \u00a9Arakan Army, July 23, 2020<\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cThe Second Chief Commander of the MOC-15, Colonel Than Htike, ordered us \u2018to exterminate all\u00a0kalar<\/em>\u00a0and their race will be exterminated,\u2019\u201d said Myo Win Tun in his confession. \u201cThe Muslim men were shot on their foreheads and kicked into the grave.\u201d \u201cKalar<\/em>\u201d is a derogatory term used in Myanmar in reference to Rohingya.<\/p>\n

Both soldiers describe the locations of mass graves. Myo Win Tun describes a mass grave of 30 bodies located on \u201cTower Tai Street,\u201d\u00a0which is reportedly located near the headquarters of LIB 552 and\u00a0approximately six miles north of Maung Nu village\u2014the site of a\u00a0well-documented\u00a0massacre.<\/p>\n

The men identify six Rohingya villages in which they committed crimes against Rohingya civilians in 2017: Kyet Yoe Pyin, Ngan Chaung, U Shin Kya, Doe Tan, and Zin Paing Nyar villages in Maungdaw Township, and Taung Bazar village in Buthidaung Township. The U.N. and human rights groups, including Fortify Rights, previously identified these and other areas affected by the military-led \u201cclearance operations\u201d in 2016 and 2017. The men also confirmed their involvement in \u201cclearance operations\u201d in other unnamed villages.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese confessions demonstrate what we\u2019ve long known, which is that\u00a0the Myanmar Army is a well-functioning national army operating with a specific and centralized command structure,\u201d said Matthew Smith. \u201cCommanders control, direct, and order their\u00a0subordinates in all they do. In this case, commanders ordered foot soldiers to commit genocidal acts and exterminate Rohingya, and that\u2019s exactly what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under Article 28 of the Rome Statute,\u00a0commanders of state security forces<\/a>\u00a0exercising control over those responsible for crimes against humanity and\/or genocide\u2014whether as physical perpetrators or some other form of liability\u2014are liable for international crimes if they knew or should have known about the crimes and failed to take all necessary and reasonable measures to prevent or repress them. Article 25 establishes criminal liability for different forms of involvement in committing the crime, including as a direct, indirect, or co-perpetrator, or as perpetrators responsible for ordering, contributing to, or inciting criminal action.<\/p>\n

Other details in the filmed confessions are consistent with previously documented eyewitness testimonial evidence, including how Myanmar Army soldiers attacked Rohingya villages during early morning hours and subsequently occupied affected villages for days or weeks, as well as how the Myanmar Police Force worked in concert with the Myanmar Army.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Mohammad F., 15, receives treatment at Cox’s Bazar General Hospital. The Myanmar Army opened fire on him as he fled his village in September 2017,\u00a0leading to the loss of his left arm.\u00a0His uncle covered the wound with medicinal leaves while they hid in the jungle for five weeks before arriving in Bangladesh. He is with his brother, 10, and sister, 7; their parents’ whereabouts are unknown.\u00a0 Patrick Brown \u00a9 Panos\/ UNICEF 2018<\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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In 2018, Fortify Rights published\u00a0evidence<\/a>\u00a0that Myanmar Army soldiers raped Rohingya women, killed Rohingya men,\u00a0women, and children, buried bodies in mass graves, and systematically destroyed properties, villages, and food stocks in northern Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017.\u00a0Fortify Rights documented atrocity crimes by Myanmar Army soldiers in places mentioned by Zaw Naing Tun and Myo Win Tun.<\/p>\n

\u201cRahana,\u201d 30, fled her home in Kyet Yoe Pyin, also known as Kiari Farang\u2014a village in which Private Zaw Naing Tun was operational\u2014with two children on August 26, 2017. She arrived in Bangladesh on August 30, 2017, and on that day\u00a0she told<\/a>\u00a0Fortify Rights:<\/p>\n

The military came to the village, and they were beheading, cutting, and chopping people. My husband and father were killed. . . . It was very noisy from gunfire. We could see the military shooting into the village, and we could see dead bodies. There were women, men, children. When we were leaving, we saw some flesh, cut into pieces, and we saw some dead bodies were lying around, scattered in different places. It was in the field. There were around 20 dead bodies, scattered.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fortify Rights documented how Myanmar Army soldiers threw infant children into fires in Kyet Yoe Pyin village. \u201cWai Ni,\u201d a 35-year-old Rohingya mother of eight from Kyet Yoe Pyin, told Fortify Rights how Myanmar Army soldiers grabbed her two-year-old daughter from the arms of her 14-year-old daughter and threw her into a fire.\u00a0She said<\/a>: \u201cWe were standing nearby, but we were not allowed [to] grab the body out of the fire. We were screaming, hoping the military would not harm others. We could save [my older daughter] but not [the younger one].\u201d<\/p>\n

Several Rohingya survivors described to Fortify Rights the existence of\u00a0mass graves<\/a>\u00a0in Kyet Yoe Pyin village.<\/p>\n

The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar similarly\u00a0documented<\/a>\u00a0killings of infants and children in Kyet Yoe Pyin village as well as \u201ca particularly brutal level of sexual violence\u201d in the village, where \u201c[w]omen and girls were subjected to mass gang rape, forced nudity, sexual humiliation and sexual assault.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his confession, Zaw Naing Tun says he served as a sentry guard for superior officers when they raped Rohingya women in Kyet Yoe Pyin. He says: \u201cI witnessed Sergeant Pyae Phyoe Aung and Corporal Shwe Htwe rape three\u00a0kalar<\/em>–ma<\/em>\u00a0[Rohingya women] when we implemented the clearance operations in Kyet Yoe Pyin village.\u201d<\/p>\n

On September 6, 2018, the ICC granted the Chief Prosecutor jurisdiction to investigate and possibly prosecute the crime against humanity of forced deportation of Rohingya to Bangladesh, as well as persecution and other inhumane acts.<\/p>\n

The U.N. Security Council should immediately refer the situation in Myanmar to the ICC, enabling the court to\u00a0investigate and\u00a0prosecute all of the crimes perpetrated against Rohingya, including the crime of genocide, said Fortify Rights.<\/p>\n

Given their confessions and apparent transfer to The Hague, it is reasonable to assume Myo Win Tun and Zaw Naing Tun could plead guilty to the crimes to which they confessed in exchange for becoming \u201cinsider witnesses\u201d for future trials. Such a development would significantly advance efforts to hold perpetrators accountable for atrocity crimes against Rohingya, said Fortify Rights.<\/p>\n

The ICC has a witness protection program for various types of witnesses, including \u201cinsider witnesses.\u201d Under Article 68(1) of the Rome Statute, the ICC is obligated to \u201ctake appropriate measures to protect the safety, physical and psychological well-being, dignity and privacy\u201d of witnesses, and under Article 43(6), a victims and witnesses section at the ICC is responsible for \u201cprotective measures and security arrangements\u201d for at-risk witnesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope the willingness of these men to come forward carries like a wave of justice across the Myanmar military and officialdom,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0said Matthew Smith.\u00a0\u201cMore soldiers and government insiders in the country should come forward with information. There are systems in place to protect their rights.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Source: here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two Myanmar Army soldiers now in ICC custody in The Hague (BANGKOK, September 8, 2020)\u2014The International Criminal Court (ICC) should swiftly prosecute two Myanmar Army soldiers who confessed to their involvement in massacres, rape, and other crimes against Rohingya in Myanmar, and\u00a0the court should\u00a0facilitate witness protection for them, said Fortify Rights today. Fortify Rights has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,41,37,3,12,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2265,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263\/revisions\/2265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}