Amnesty International identifies 13 Myanmar army and BGP
officials responsible for the brutal persecution of the Rohingyas
On the morning of August 25, 2017, a Rohingya armed group
known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) launched coordinated attacks
on security forces’ posts in the northern Rakhine state of Myanmar.
Right after the attacks, Myanmar’s army and Border Guard
Police and their allies launched a brutal counteroffensive, targeting the
Rohingya villages. That “ethnic cleansing” operation led more than 700,000
people, mostly children and women, of the minority community to cross over to
Bangladesh to save their lives.
They, however, joined more than 400,000 Rohingyas who
were already living in squalid and cramped camps in Cox’s Bazar, putting more
pressure on Bangladesh.
International rights organization Amnesty International
(AI) on June 27 published a 186-page report, titled “Myanmar: “We will destroy
everything”: Military responsibility for crimes against humanity in Rakhine
State,” where they identified 13 military personnel of the country who were
behind the atrocities.
The AI said it has gathered extensive, credible evidence
of direct or command responsibility for crimes against humanity against them.
It said the report was based on more than 400 interviews
taken between September 2017 and June 2018, including the ones during four
research missions to the refugee camps in Bangladesh and three missions to
Myanmar, one of which was to Rakhine.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing
The AI said Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services
(CINCDS) Senior General Min Aung Hlaing should face judicial proceedings for
not taking responsibility to prevent the crimes against humanity - crimes
against the Rohingyas.
It said Hlaing was very likely involved in the decision
to deploy the 33rd and 99th battalions of the Light Infantry Divisions (LID) to
Rakhine in August 2017.
He knew or should have known his subordinates’ actions,
said the report, adding that he did nothing to prevent or stop the crimes and
failed to punish the subordinates responsible for them.
Vice Senior General Soe Win
The report said Commander-in-Chief (Army) Vice Senior
General Soe Win, who is also the deputy CINCDS, had controlled the decisions to
deploy the LID and Light Infantry Battalions (LIB). These crimes too were documented by the AI.
Apart from the senior general, Win had command authority
over the army which enforced the institutionalized regime of systematic
oppression and domination against the Rohingyas, amounting to the crime against
humanity of apartheid, said the report.
Lieutenant General Aung Kyaw Zaw
As the commander of the Bureau of Special Operations
(BSO) Number 3, Lieutenant General Aung Kyaw Zaw, from 2015 till January 2018,
controlled all military operations in the southern, south-western and western
commands, which includes Rakhine.
Zaw was present in northern Rakhine during the attacks on
Rohingyas before and during 2017. In early August last year, he had accompanied
the western commander to the Rathedaung township in response to the “recent
terrorist attacks,” said the report.
In late May this year, it was reported that he had been
removed from that position, for taking “responsibility for the actions of the
western commander.”
Major General Maung Maung Soe
Western command units under Major General Maung Maung Soe
had carried out the massacre in Maung Nu on August 27, 2017 and participated in
other crimes against humanity, said the AI report.
Throughout the Buthidaung township, MOC 15 units also
played a critical role in forcing the Rohingyas out of their villages and country
in late 2017 and early 2018.
Major Thant Zaw Win
Prior to the Maung Nu massacre, the 564th LIB’s Major
Thant Zaw Win was seen speaking on the phone, in the courtyard where the vast
majority of murders occurred, and was heard to give an order to begin the
attack, says the AI.
Soldiers under his command then proceeded to carry out
scores of extra-judicial executions of Rohingya men and boys.
Staff Sergeant Ba Kyaw
Staff Sergeant Ba Kyaw of the 564th LIB appeared to have
been one of several key perpetrators of the Maung Nu massacre, said the report.
He was well known to the Rohingyas who lived in the area,
as he spoke the Rohingya dialect and often interacted with the leaders and
villagers in Chin Tha Mar village. That had positioned him to play a determinative
role to carry out the massacre.
Brigadier General Aung Aung
Units under the command of 33rd LID Commander Brigadier
General Aung Aung carried out the massacre, torture, rape and other sexual
violence and burned a number of villages in Rathedaung and southern Maungdaw
townships on August 27, 2017.
The AI report said that these units had also carried out
similar crimes against humanity in northern Shan State in 2016 and early 2017.
Major Aung Myo Thu
The soldiers under the command of 33rd LID’s Field Unit
Commander Major Aung Myo Thu, allegedly that along with the BGP and local
vigilantes, killed more than 200 Rohingya people, raped Rohingya women, and
burned down the villages, said the report.
Brigadier General Than Oo
A unit under the then 99th LID Commander Brigadier
General Than Oo allegedly carried out the massacre, torture, rape and other
sexual violence in Min Gyi and other Rohingya villages in the northern Maungdaw
township on August 30, says the report.
It is believed that the crimes occurred due to Oo’s
failure in properly exercising his authority to stop and punish those under his
command.
In May 2018, it was reported that Oo had been
“transferred to the auxiliary force.”
Brigadier General Thura San Lwin
BGP’s Commander Brigadier General Thura San Lwin, who led
the force from October 2016 to October 3, 2017, had allegedly ordered the
burning of dozens of Rohingya villages in the name of “clearance operations” in
Kyee Kan Pyin, the report says.
Analysts, as well as credible media outlets, had linked
Lwin’s sacking to his failure to anticipate the August 25 ARSA attacks.
BGP Officer Tun Naing
Rohingya survivors and witnesses alleged that BGP’s Taung
Bazar base commanding officer Tun Naing was responsible for the crimes against
humanity at different villages in northern Buthidaung township on August 25,
says the AI report.
Naing told the AI that he was directly involved in the
arrest, interrogation and detention of Rohingyas, but denied that he had physically
mistreated anyone in detention.
BGP Corporal Kyaw Chay
Survivors and witnesses told the AI that BGP’s Corporal
Kyaw Chay was involved in crimes against humanity at the Chut Pyin and
surrounding villages last year. They also complained that Chay had tortured
detainees at the Zay Di Pyin BGP base.
Although Chay denied the allegations while talking to AI,
the head of that base, Police Lieutenant Myo Zaw Oo, said the corporal had
lied.
Across Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships,
these units had imposed inhumane tactics, like starvation, to force the
Rohingyas who were living there out, even after the initial violent
counteroffensive.
At least a dozen battalions under Soe were also involved
in maintaining the apartheid-like system under which the Rohingya population
lived even before 2017. The major general was relieved of his command last
November and put in “reserves” or “auxiliary forces.”
Brigadier General Khin Maung Soe
The 564th LIB under the command of Brigadier General Khin
Maung Soe, commander of Military Operation Command (MOC) 15, carried out the Maung
Nu massacre, according to the report.
Source: DT