Soldiers from Burma Army committed
an inhumane gang-rape Kachin Women's Association Thailand (KWAT) said in a documentation.
The incident occurred at Luk Pi village in Chipwi township an area where heavy
fighting took place in recent weeks between the Burmese soldiers and the Kachin
Independence Army. The victim was found
in a church where she took refuge after most of her neighbors run away, according
to Myitkyina's Blog [http://myitkyina.blog.com ]. It was also confirmed by the
Kachin News Group (KNG) and Kachinland News in their respective online pages.
A gang of bandit-like Burmese soldiers tortured a 48-year-old
Kachin woman and then gang-raped for three days in her village church northwest
of Pang Wa (Pangwa) beginning 1 May, according to the Kachin Women's
Association of Thailand (KWAT) citing interviews with the victim and a local
villager who was forced to watch the assault.
Unarmed Kachin civilians are more
and more under attack by the immoral Burmese armed forces in retaliation for
their fallen soldiers during fighting with the Kachin Independence Organization
and its military wing KIA. Daily accounts of Burmese army burning down
villages, raping the Kachin women, bombing innocent natives, arresting and
torturing local residents are reported from local sources, KNG said.
According to KWAT a group of
around 10 untamed soldiers hit the victim with rifle butts, stabbed her with
knives, stripped her naked and then gang-raped her over a period of three days
in the church. The troops involved are said to be from Light Infantry Battalion
347 and Infantry Battalion 118.
KWAT says that Yu Ta Gwi, a 59
year old man who also was tied up and apprehended by those soldiers witnessed
the brutal rape incident. When the
troops left the church on May 4th, local villagers found Yu Ta Gwi and the rape
victim semi-conscious in the compound. Both Yu Ta Gwi and the unnamed women
were then taken to a local hospital.
Yu Ta Gwi, aged 59, testified
that about 10 Burmese soldiers surrounded the 48-year-old woman, hit her with
gun butts and stabbed her with their knives. The soldiers pinned the woman down
and forcibly removed her clothes and repeatedly raped her for three days inside
the Church, said Yu Ta Gwi. He added that he heard her crying all the time till
he himself was stabbed in his thigh and beaten until collapsed and lost
consciousness, according t Kachinland News.
Burmese government soldiers left
the two victims after torturing for three days. Yu Ta Gwi and the woman were
found by former NDA (K), now government-controlled BGF soldiers and taken the
two to Pangwa Hospital. The woman suffers psychological trauma following
torture and rape. Ngwa Sa, her husband, said in tears, "she doesn't reply to me
anymore, only talk about going home and I feel very sad."
The 48-year-old mother was left
extremely traumatized by the violence and remains in an extremely fragile
condition, according to Kachin Women's Association Thailand (KWAT).
It is very unlikely that any of
the soldiers involved in the rape will even be formerly investigated for their
actions. Burma's newly created national human rights commission has said that
it will not probe allegations against the army or other incidents that are
reported to have happened in conflict areas.
Last year, similar gang-rape
violence done by Burmese soldiers also occurred. The victim, Sumlut Roi Ja, a
Kachin village-woman had been seen last in October while being detained by
Burmese troops near Mai Ja Yang.
Earlier this year, the husband of
lost victim made a lawsuit against the soldiers, with the intention of
pressuring the army to reveal the destiny of his wife. As there is no rule of law, the military-dominated
Supreme Court in Naypyidaw had thrown out the case of a citizen who suffered
rape and disappeared by is soldiers. The law does not protect the citizens;
instead it defends the vicious soldiers who committed gang-rape the innocent
village-women in ethnic areas.
In a press release issued last
week highlighting the recent rape case, a KWAT spokesperson suggested that the
Burmese legal system's refusal to probe the Sumlut Roi Ja abduction case gave
the army a green light to continue to target ethnic women. The message from the
Naypyidaw Supreme Court is clear: the Burmese military can rape and kill ethnic
women with impunity, said KWAT director Moon Nay Li.
According to Kachinland News ,
KIO Chairman Lanyaw Zawng Hra, KIO Central Committee requested through a letter
asking the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to send UN observer teams or
intermediary teams to the conflict war zones, and to the towns and villages
destroyed by the Burmese Army, and to the IDP camps in KIO areas.
As Burmese army's offensive
continues, grave human rights violations reached to an alarming new level and
humanitarian situation has deteriorated in Kachin and Shan State. These
incidents are not random acts of violence, said KWAT spokesperson Shirley Seng
last year. The Burma Army is committing gang-rape and killing on a wide scale.
It is clear they are acting under orders, Shirley Seng said.
KWAT demands that the regime immediately stops using rape as a weapon of war, ends the offensive against Kachin and other ethnic groups, and withdraws its troops from the ethnic areas.
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