Myanmar military killed over 1,500 people in first year of coup: Monitor
Bangkok, Feb 1 (EFE).- The brutal military repression of peaceful pro-democracy protesters and activists in Myanmar has left some 1,503 people dead in the first year of a coup, a monitoring group has said.
A statement from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said it was the figure verified by the AAPP. “The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher.”
The statement said the military killed four people, including two teenagers in the eastern Kayah state, the latest episode of fatalities in Myanmar that completed one year under the military rule.
“On Jan.24 and Jan.25, the armed wing of the junta raided villages, houses, and wards as part of a military clearance operation. Then, they questioned the locals and arrested them. The four were shot dead following torture.”
The AAPP reported that 8,835 people were currently under detention.
It said military courts sentenced 661 people in person. Of them, 45, including two children, to death. But no one has been executed.
The monitoring group said 1,972 were evading arrest warrants.
The courts have sentenced nearly 200 people in absentia. Of them, 39 to death.
The Myanmar military ousted the civilian government in a coup on Feb.1 last year and arrested de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, and several politicians, including President Win Myint.
The coup and the mass detention of politicians and activists triggered unprecedented civilian protests across the country and the campaign for civil disobedience, led by government employees who refused to go to work.
The coup and the subsequent civilian uprising threw the Southeast Asian nation into political, social, and economic crises.
Myanmar security forces responded brutally to peaceful street protests.
The military justifies the coup, saying the civilian government led by Suu Kyi had rigged the November 2020 ballot in which her party won a landslide. However, international observers have said the elections were free and fair. EFE
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