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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 9 september 2020
Myanmar army deserters confirm atrocities against Rohingya

By GRANT PECK he said. Fortify Rights said
Associated Press the two deserters arrived
BANGKOK (AP) — Two sol- at Myanmar's border with
diers who deserted from Bangladesh in mid-August
Myanmar's army have tes- and asked Bangladesh
tified on video that they authorities for protection.
were instructed by com- Bangladesh officials then
manding officers to "shoot notified the International
all that you see and that Criminal Court about their
you hear" in villages where presence, and said they
minority Rohingya Muslims are no longer in Bangla-
lived, a human rights group desh, according to Fortify
said Tuesday. Rights.
The comments appear to Asked about the two sol-
be the first public confes- diers Tuesday, the ICC's Of-
sion by soldiers of involve- fice of the Prosecutor said
ment in army-directed it does not comment on
massacres, rape and other its ongoing investigations,
crimes against Rohingya adding in a statement that
in the Buddhist-majority it has been "independently
country, and the group For- and impartially collecting
tify Rights suggested they evidence from a variety of
could provide important sources regarding the al-
evidence for an ongoing In this Sept. 7, 2017, file photo, houses are on fire in Gawdu Zara village, northern Rakhine state, leged atrocity crimes."
investigation by the Inter- Myanmar. "These confessions dem-
national Criminal Court. Associated Press onstrate what we've long
More than 700,000 Rohing- known, which is that the
ya have fled Myanmar to translations into English, the them questions. The details laptops, and also seized Myanmar army is a well-
neighboring Bangladesh human rights group said. in the questions, as well as cattle, an allegation that functioning national army
since August 2017 to es- They were posted on For- the ready answers about has been widely reported. operating with a specific
cape what Myanmar's tify Rights' page on a vid- events that occurred about Staring directly at the cam- and centralized command
military called a clearance eo-sharing site, where the three years earlier, made it era with barely any per- structure," Fortify Rights
campaign following an Associated Press viewed evident the content was ceptible movement, Zaw chief Matthew Smith said in
attack by a Rohingya in- them. The AP was not able prepared, if not actually Naing Tun recounted how a statement. "Command-
surgent group in Rakhine to independently corrobo- rehearsed. However, the his unit "wiped out" 20 Ro- ers control, direct, and or-
state. Myanmar's govern- rate the soldiers' accounts violent acts the men de- hingya villages. der their subordinates in all
ment has denied accusa- or ascertain whether they scribed echoed the vast The soldier said about 80 they do. In this case, com-
tions that security forces made their statements un- number of accounts of people in all were killed, manders ordered foot sol-
committed mass rapes and der duress. atrocities collected by U.N. including children, adults diers to commit genocidal
killings and burned thou- However, U.N. agencies investigators and indepen- and the elderly of both acts and exterminate Ro-
sands of homes. and human rights organi- dent human rights workers sexes. The killings were hingya, and that's exactly
Fortify Rights, which focus- zations have extensively from Rohingya refugees in sanctioned by his battalion what they did."
es on Myanmar, said the documented atrocities Bangladesh. commander, Lt. Col Myo Under the legal doctrine
two army privates fled the carried out against the Ro- After answering questions Myint Aung, he said. of command responsibility,
country last month and are hingya by Myanmar secu- about his name, serial num- In one incident, 10 villagers higher-ranking officers are
believed to be in the cus- rity forces. The International ber and military units, Myo suspected of belonging to held responsible for heinous
tody of the International Court of Justice agreed last Win Tun said the command- the Arakan Rohingya Sal- acts carried out by those
Criminal Court in the Neth- year to consider a case al- er of the 15th Military Op- vation Army, the Rohingya serving under them.
erlands, which is examining leging that Myanmar com- erations Center, whom he insurgent group, were cap- That the two men de-
the violence against the mitted genocide against named as Col. Than Htike, tured and tied up, and scribed similar atrocities in
Rohingya. the group. The court's pro- gave an order to "shoot all then shot on the orders of a separate areas also "may
According to Fortify Rights, ceedings are likely to con- you see and all you hear" captain, he said, acknowl- indicate operational con-
privates Myo Win Tun, 33, tinue for years. when raiding Muslim villag- edging that he was one of sistency between battal-
and Zaw Naing Tun, 30, Myanmar has long con- es. He said in one opera- the shooters. ions, coordination, and in-
who served in separate sidered Rohingya Muslims tion, they killed and buried Zaw Naing Tun said he was tent to commit genocide,"
light infantry battalions, to have migrated illegally 30 people: "eight women, present when a sergeant Fortify Rights said.
gave "the names and ranks from Bangladesh, even seven children and 15 men and a corporal raped It said the video confes-
of 19 direct perpetrators though their families have and elderly." three Rohingya women in sions appeared to be cred-
from the Myanmar army, in- lived in Myanmar for gen- He asserted that Col Than the course of searching ible because their content
cluding themselves, as well erations. Nearly all have Htike ordered his unit to houses, but asserted he did was consistent with other
as six senior commanders ... been denied citizenship "exterminate all Kalar" — a not carry out any rapes. evidence previously un-
they claim ordered or con- since 1982, effectively ren- derogatory name for the He acknowledged taking earthed by the group and
tributed to atrocity crimes dering them stateless. They Rohingya — and that they part in looting, saying his other investigators, such
against Rohingya." are also denied freedom of shot the men in their fore- unit officer declared "what as the U.N.-empowered
The videos were filmed movement and other basic heads and kicked their you take is what you get" Independent International
in July while the soldiers rights. bodies into a hole. They ahead of a raid on a mar- Fact-Finding Mission on
were in the custody of the In separate videos, the two also raped the women be- ket. Myanmar.Fortify Rights
Arakan Army, an ethnic soldiers were shown seated fore killing them and he ad- "We entered into the mar- urged that the two former
guerrilla group in Rakhine stiffly in military uniforms mitted to carrying out one ket, destroyed locks and soldiers be tried by the
engaged in an armed con- with a sheet covering the rape. doors, and then we took ICC and that the court put
flict with the government, background, as an off- He said his unit appropri- money, gold, clothes, them in a witness protec-
and included subtitled screen male voice asked ated mobile phones and food and mobile phones," tion program.q