Six Myanmar military officials confess to murdering three Kachin civilians

Six Myanmar military officials confessed on Tuesday to murdering three Kachin civilians at the end of May, local authorities who attended a court martial told Network Media Group.

The officials include a commanding officer, three other officers, and two soldiers. They have been under investigation since early June, a few days after the bullet-riddled bodies of three Kachin men – Maran Brang Seng, 22, Nhkum Gam Awng, 31, and Labya Naw Hkum, 27 – were found buried three miles from a military outpost in Mai Hkawng village, situated in Mansi Township, Kachin State.

The area is home to thousands of people who have been displaced by fighting between the Myanmar army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

When the three men were out collecting firewood near their displaced persons camp on May 25, they were reportedly detained by the Myanmar army’s 319^th Light Infantry Battalion. Family and friends of the men went searching for them on May 28, after hearing gunshots nearby, and discovered their bodies that day.

According to postmortem records, Maran Brang Seng sustained skull fractures and two bullet wounds. Labya Naw Hkum sustained skull fractures and several knife wounds and was missing a chunk of his left ear. Nhkum Gam Awng sustained one bullet wound, plus five knife wounds in each knee.

The day after the bodies were discovered, the commander of the 319^th Light Infantry Battalion visited community leaders and officials at the camp where the men had lived and vowed to take action in line with the military code of conduct.

“He sounded like he was confessing it [the deaths],” a camp official told The Irrawaddy a few days later.

After Tuesday’s hearing, the same camp official told Network Media Group that the confessions of the military officials and the testimonies of the wives of the three men will be sent to Naypyidaw for review before the judge issues a final ruling.

It is not uncommon for civilians to suffer military abuses in Myanmar’s conflict areas. A few days before the army announced its investigation of these six officials, a video showing men in military uniforms viciously beating and threatening to kill handcuffed detainees in Shan State surfaced on social media.

Members of the military are rarely held accountable for human rights abuses.