Press Release from Shan Human Rights Foundation
A villager distributing invitations to his son’s ordination ceremony was beaten, stabbed and robbed by Burma Army troops of LIB 515 in Tang Yan Township, northern Shan State on 23rd March 2014.
On that day, Sai Sarng, age 46, from Murng Kao, Tang Yan township, had gone to a neighboring town, Murng Ort, 15 miles south of Murng Kao, to distribute the ordination ceremony invitation letters. On his way there, the Burmese soldiers camping around Hua Long village, 12 miles from Murng Kao, asked him to buy them betel from the town. When he returned from Murng Ort that day, he bought the Burmese soldiers the betel as they had asked and continued travelling to his village. However, when he was about a mile from the camp, two Burmese soldiers holding a knife were waiting for him ahead on the road. The soldiers then beat him with a piece of wood on his head, face, neck; and stabbed his head, both sides of his cheeks, and the back of his neck till he lost consciousness. The Burmese soldiers then threw his body into a bush on the side of the road. The soldiers took the victim’s motorbike, about 50,000 Kyats (est. 55 USD) and a watch.
Sometime after the Burmese soldiers had left, Sai Sarng regained consciousness and crawled back to Hua Long village. When he reached the village, the villagers contacted his family and relatives, and after that he was sent to Lashio hospital. His injuries were so serious that he was then sent on to Mandalay hospital.
Sai Sarng has lost some of his teeth, has several open wounds on his head, and his mouth has been sewn up due to a broken jaw, so he can neither speak nor eat.
Before his mouth was sewn up in the hospital, Sai Sarng said: “I bought them the betel that they asked me to buy. But after I left their camp, two Burmese soldiers were waiting for me ahead and beat me till I passed out. When I woke up, I felt pain all over and found my body covered in blood; then I crawled to Hua Long village.”
The victim’s wife said, “We are just ordinary villagers and make a living in a simple way. We do not have any connection with any political parties or armed groups.”
The victim’s eldest daughter said, “When my father was sent to hospital, the police came and asked questions, but we dared not say that it was the Burmese soldiers that did it.”
The soldiers who committed these abuses are from LIB 515, based a mile from Hua Long village and 12 miles south of Murng Kao. They moved to this base at the end of February, 2014. The base had been set up after the fighting with Shan State Army-North in July 2012.
According to local villagers, the Burmese troops based in Tang Yan Township have been threatening villagers in the area, disrespecting local monks, and killing chickens and fish in temple areas.