（悉尼）－人权观察今天表示，缅甸军方和警方应为2021年2月1日军事政变以来的大量在押死亡案件负责。
人权观察纪录到六宗社运人士在押死亡案件，均涉及明显酷刑或剥夺适当医疗照护。军政府当局没有认真调查这些命案，也没有查办失职人员。
“人权观察记录到的六宗死亡案件，只是缅甸军警拘押人员所受苦难与酷刑的冰山一角，”人权观察缅甸研究员曼尼．貌（Manny Maung）说。 “由于军政府全面实施残暴统治，至今未有任何具体行动调查在押死亡案件及惩治相关人员并不意外。”
军政府应立即停止针对反抗军事统治人士的侵犯人权行为，包括任意逮捕拘押、酷刑虐待以及不公正审判。在押死亡案件应立即备妥充分纪录通知死者家属，遗体应予返还，侵犯人权人员应予查办。
据设于泰国的政治犯救援会（Assistance Association for Political Prisoners）估计，自从军方以政变结束昂山素季与全国民主联盟（全民盟）领导的民主转型以来，至少有72人死于警方或军方拘押之下，包括在警察派出所、军方审讯处和监狱。这些死亡案件只占安全部队逮捕后短期内遇害的至少690人中的一小部分，后者大多发生在少数民族区域的军事行动中。军政府只承认极少数在押死亡案件，并将死因归咎于疾病或心脏衰竭。然而，人权活动者、目击者和接近死者的消息来源表示，根据现有物证，许多人显然死于酷刑或其他虐待，包括恶劣的拘押条件以及无法获得适当的医疗照护。
人权观察在今年5月到7月记录到六宗死亡案件，对10名目击者和家属进行远距访谈，检视发布在社交媒体的40张照片和5支影片，并由一位专长酷刑诊断的急诊专科医师根据可视证据做出独立医学分析。
六名男性死者都曾从事政治活动或发声反对军事统治，分别来自仰光、曼德勒和实皆省。全民盟成员钦貌拉（Khin Maung Latt，58岁）、梭密林（Zaw Myat Lynn，46岁）和谭敦吾（Than Tun Oo，48岁）显然因为政治立场被捕。凯迪（Khet Thi，43岁）、丁貌敏（Tin Maung Myint，52岁）和觉瑞迎（Kyaw Swe Nyein，55岁）则是在政变后加入或领导抗议运动。其中五人在被逮捕审问后24小时内死亡，觉瑞迎则死于被捕两个月后。
这六名死者中有五人是在缅甸军警夜间突袭检查时被捕，谭敦吾是白天在曼德勒被抓。六人中有五人是被军警联合执勤逮捕。根据今年3月立法，警方正式隶属于军方管控之下，警员必须全面服从军方命令，包括参与军方任务。
其中五名死者的照片显示，他们的躯干或头部留有疑似酷刑的伤痕。谭敦吾没有留下遗体照片，军政府当局说他死后马上就被火化了。
急诊专科医师罗希尼．哈尔（Rohini Haar）应人权观察要求对遗体影像做了分析：“检查过五名被害人的遗体照片和影片后，从躯干和脸部的伤痕可以明显看出这几名男性曾经遭受极大痛苦，酷刑确有发生⋯那么多的虐待和酷刑痕迹，很难从中确定这些人的直接死因。”
五名男性的家属都没有拿到正式的医疗证明、死因或验尸报告，尽管证据显示六具遗体中有四具曾进行尸检。军政府应发出所有在押死亡案件的医疗证明，若有验尸则应向家属提供验尸报告。
四名被害人的家属表示，他们感到官员施压立即火化遗体，应该是为了湮灭不法证据。两名家属说他们迅速将亲人埋葬，以防遗体遭当局没收。
联合国缅甸人权状况特别报告员于2021年10月表示，他收到可靠报告指“逾8千人遭任意拘留，其中许多遭到酷刑，包括数十人被刑求致死。” 今年3月在联合国人权理事会上，联合国人权事务高级专员米歇尔・巴切莱特表示，她收到可靠报告指安全部队杀害者中至少百分之21死于拘押期间。
人权观察发现，军政府自政变后实施普遍有计画的侵犯人权行为，足以构成危害人类罪，包括谋杀、酷刑和非法监禁。
联合国《关于调查潜在非法死亡的明尼苏达规程》（2016）规定，所有羁押期间死亡案件的案情与原因均应得到”迅速、公正和有效的调查”。此外，”应立即通知家属，随后以便于周知的方式张贴死亡通知。还应在尸检前尽可能征求家属的意见。家属应有权要求尸检期间有代理人在场。遗骸应⋯交还家属，使其能够根据自身信仰处理遗骸。”
人权观察表示，联合国、区域机构和各国政府——包括欧洲联盟、美国、英国和东南亚国家联盟（东盟）——应对在押死亡表示特别关切，并施压军政府终结这种状况。相关各方应加强对敏昂莱大将为首的军方与国家管理委员会军政府以及军方掌控企业实施针对制裁。
联合国安全理事会应对缅甸军政府采取紧急措施，包括将该国情势移交国际刑事法院，以及通过全球武器禁运决议。
“在押人员死亡是军政府安全部队日复一日犯下的隐形暴行之一，” 貌说。 “有关各国政府应确保如此骇人的人权侵犯受到全球一致谴责。”
更多详情请见下文（只有英文）。
Deaths in Custody
The following case histories are based on remote interviews with family members of the victims and witnesses and other sources of information. In all but one of the cases, witnesses said they were afraid to be named due to fear of reprisals from the Myanmar military or police.
Kyaw Swe Nyein, Nyaung-U town, Mandalay Region
Plainclothes policemen and a military intelligence unit arrested Kyaw Swe Nyein, 55, at his home in Mandalay Region on January 30, 2022, after he joined protests in Nyaung-U, Mandalay Region.
The authorities accused Kyaw Swe Nyein of spreading “fake news” and sharing a Facebook post supporting anti-coup protests. A closed court in March sentenced him to six months in prison for incitement under section 505A of the penal code. This section, amended by the junta shortly after the coup, makes it a criminal offense to make comments that “cause fear” and spread “false news,” and is punishable by up to three years in prison.
On March 9, Kyaw Swe Nyein sounded well when he spoke to his family on a mobile phone borrowed from one of the prison guards at Nyaung-U prison. However, he told a family member that he had been badly beaten at the Myingyan interrogation center, where he was held for the first 10 days. He told his family that he had experienced some dizziness as a result. On March 11, prison authorities informed Kyaw Swe Nyein’s wife that he had died that evening after complaining of dizziness. Doctors at Nyaung-U hospital, where his body was taken, told relatives that he had died of heart failure.
The family did not receive a death certificate or an autopsy report, even though authorities conducted an autopsy. A family member said a police official told the family to sign a blank document acknowledging they were informed of Kyaw Swe Nyein’s death.
A family member said:
I was so distressed. I just signed the document, but I don’t know what it was, and I don’t have a copy.… If he died from natural causes, then I could forgive myself [that he died in prison] but now, it’s the unknown that is unsettling. Of course, it’s very difficult for us to accept his death with so few answers but we can’t do anything about it now.
After reviewing images of Kyaw Swe Nyein at his funeral, Dr. Haar said a photograph showed evidence of trauma to the head from bruising around the eyes and ears.
Than Tun Oo, Mandalay town, Mandalay Region
On September 26, 2021, at about 3:30 p.m., soldiers and police arrested Than Tun Oo, 48, a former political prisoner and activist, at his home in Mandalay and took him to the No. 7 Area Police Station. Neighbors and family members watched as security forces beat him with his hands tied behind his back and then shot him in the legs, supposedly for being slow to respond to orders. A witness said:
There were around 50 to 100 soldiers and police with army trucks and private cars. Some soldiers were from the LID [Light Infantry Division] 33 command and there were police from the local station here in Mandalay.… They told [Than Tun Oo] to kneel but he weighed 400 pounds, so they shot him in his leg to make him kneel.
The witness said the next day, September 27, police and military officials told Than Tun Oo’s family that he had died in the police station from heart failure. The authorities did not give the family a medical certificate, a witness said, but security forces made family members sign a document acknowledging they had been informed of Than Tun Oo’s death.
The family said Than Tun Oo was in good health prior to his arrest. When the family demanded his body, junta authorities said they had cremated the body immediately because Than Tun Oo had tested positive for Covid-19 while in custody.
A family member said:
Everyone has dreams, so did [Than Tun Oo]. He was interested in art and loved writing. Many people liked him. I could endure the pain of loss if he died while fighting against the [junta]. But he died during interrogation where they have the power to do whatever they wanted. It is painful to accept that he died in this way.
Khet Thi, Shwebo city, Sagaing Region
Khet Thi, 43, a popular poet known for his sharp political wit, took on a leadership role opposing the military coup. He organized protests and spoke at rallies to encourage dissent against the military. His poetry became part of his resistance to military rule. “They shoot in the head, but they don't know that revolution is in the heart,” he wrote.
On May 8, 2021, about 40 soldiers and police arrested Khet Thi at his home in the city of Shwebo, Sagaing Region, and accused him of leading a plan to lay landmines targeting the security forces. Junta authorities also arrested Khet Thi’s wife, Chaw Suu, and her brother-in-law, Aye Pyo, for allegedly helping to plan the attack.
A witness said that police handcuffed all three, then took them in a police vehicle to Myo Ma, the main police station in Shwebo, where they were separated into male and female cellblocks for interrogation.
After hours of interrogation overnight, Chaw Suu and her brother-in-law were released on the morning of May 9. A police officer informed Chaw Suu that her husband had been taken to Monywa General Hospital, almost 90 kilometers from Myo Ma police station. Sources familiar with the case said that Chaw Suu thought her husband was ill and asked the head of the police station to take her to the hospital so she could care for him. The officer in charge then told her that Khet Thi was dead.
On May 9, at about 2 p.m., junta officials at Monywa hospital told Khet Thi’s family that he had died of a heart attack. However, family members deny that he had any heart problems, and say he was in good health apart from poor eyesight. A source said hospital staff pressured the family to have the body cremated at the hospital the same day. Fearing junta officials would force them to immediately cremate Khet Thi, the family took his body to prepare for burial the next day.
Junta officials failed to provide the family a medical certificate or autopsy report, and there was no investigation into his death.
A family member said:
We rushed back to another township with his body because we were afraid that they would take the body back.… When we went to prepare the body, his head moved slightly and that’s when blood came out of his head. They had performed an autopsy on his head and there was a wound but there were also two bruises on the right side of his face and black marks on his nose. He had square shaped burn marks on his thighs. We didn’t check his back because we were afraid the sutures from the autopsy might burst open.
Khet Thi was buried on May 10, 2021, less than 48 hours after his arrest.
Dr. Haar, the emergency physician, said that images of Khet Thi taken after his death showed likely head trauma.
Zaw Myat Lynn, Shwe Pyi Thar township, Yangon
Zaw Myat Lynn, 46, was a former NLD member who ran a vocational education school named after Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon’s Shwe Pyi Thar township. He and his family lived with the students.
On March 9, 2021, at about 1 a.m., police and soldiers arrived at the school, appearing to target Zaw Myat Lynn for arrest due to pro-democracy posts on his Facebook account. He ran and jumped over a fence but was surrounded by police and soldiers who took him into a military vehicle.
A teacher said:
I heard from students around 2 a.m. on March 9, 2021. [They told me] about 40 police and soldiers were at the Suu Vocational School. Some students were arrested first when military forces came in from the front door. Zaw Myat Lynn jumped over the fence and cleared it, but the building was surrounded, and he was arrested. Neighbors from next door also told me they heard Zaw Myat Lynn say, “Don’t shoot, I’ll surrender and come with you.” He didn’t get any injury from jumping over that fence.
Zaw Myat Lynn’s family was told the next day to come and identify his corpse.
Dr. Haar, who reviewed 12 photographs and 2 videos of Zaw Myat Lynn’s body, said visible injuries suggested scalding liquid was poured onto his face.
After examining similar photographs, The Guardian newspaper concluded that the nature of Zaw Myat Lynn’s injuries were consistent with torture: “It appears that boiling water or a chemical solution had been poured into his mouth. The tongue was melted, his teeth missing. Facial skin was peeling off. The body had been wrapped up to conceal further traumatic injuries.”
A source close to the family said that junta officials told Zaw Myat Lynn’s family that he had died from heart failure. The officials failed to provide the family with a medical certificate or autopsy report.
Tin Maung Myint, Yin Mar Bin township, Sagaing Region
On April 4, 2021, soldiers arrested Tin Maung Myint, 52, during a raid on his village in Yin Mar Bin township, Sagaing Region. He was a farmer and village leader who had joined the opposition to the junta. Witnesses said that soldiers arrested Tin Maung Myint around 4 a.m. along with seven others who were keeping watch on the military column that was preparing to raid their village.
Tin Maung Myint’s body, along with that of another villager who was arrested with him, turned up the next day about 2 p.m. at the Monywa General Hospital, bearing marks of torture. A witness who viewed the body said:
I saw bruises and swollen marks all over his and the other victim’s face. They were in pretty bad shape. We only checked their faces, not their whole bodies. It was unsettling to get close to their bodies. I didn’t want to look that closely, so I don’t know about marks on their bodies, but their faces were so black and blue.
One photograph posted on social media of Tin Maung Myint’s body shows numerous wounds. Dr. Haar, who reviewed the photograph, said she observed massive trauma consistent with skin tears and avulsions – or forcible tearing – on his shoulders that looked like burns. Bruises are visible on the face, as is a deep gash on the forehead. She said it was unclear which injury was the cause of death.
Junta authorities failed to provide a death certificate to the family or explain how Tin Maung Myint had died. Hospital staff who found the bodies told the families the men were already dead when they were discovered dumped at the hospital.
Khin Maung Latt, Pabedan township, Yangon
On March 6, 2021, soldiers and police arrived at the home of Khin Maung Latt, 58, a ward chairman and NLD member, in Pabedan township, Yangon. Witnesses said that after forcibly entering his home, security forces beat and kicked Khin Maung Latt in front of his family, then took him away at gunpoint. His family was notified the next morning that he had died of heart failure, and they retrieved his body at 8 a.m.
A friend of Khin Maung Latt’s who attended his funeral on March 7 said that his legs looked broken, his white funeral shroud was covered in blood, and that his face appeared blue and swollen. The friend said:
When I arrived at Ye Way cemetery, Khin Maung Latt’s body was already being prepared in the morgue, in the Muslim tradition. But we’d instructed our contacts who washed the body to take photos as soon as they’d stripped him. The water ran with blood and his body was marked as if he was badly beaten.… There was blood coming out of his ears and bruises all over his body; his legs looked damaged, broken. The person washing the body had put gauze in the ear and up his nose, but it was still dripping.… The white cloth was no longer white, it was stained red and rust-colored.
He said that the authorities appeared to have carried out an autopsy:
They said he died from a heart attack, but they had performed an autopsy on his body and on his head. The head was cut open, as if they’d taken one side and pulled it back like a flap. But why did they do this? There was no explanation given.… You could see the stitches on his head and on his body and the stitches were still oozing. No matter how we washed the stitches, they kept oozing and his blood was still warm. There were blue and brown marks around his eyes and his body, marks everywhere.
A member of the Muslim community who helped to prepare Khin Maung Latt’s body for a Muslim burial said there were deep wounds on his back and hands consistent with torture.
Dr. Haar, who reviewed nine photographs and one video of Khin Maung Latt’s body, observed unskilled, haphazard suturing of the autopsy wounds on the head and chest: “The sutures are very unusual and not in line with medical best practice. By even conducting the autopsy under such unusual circumstances, may also suggest medical complicity to the acts of torture that clearly occurred to the individual.”
Khin Maung Latt’s body was cremated at the Ye Way cemetery on March 7, less than 24 hours after his arrest. The friend said officials failed to provide the family with a medical certificate or autopsy report.
