Nasaka Man Sentenced to Prison for Human Rights Violation

3/30/2010

Maungdaw:
A Nasaka officer who had widely abused human rights in Maungdaw on the western Burmese border was sentenced to prison after he was expelled from his job by the Nasaka chief, said a government official on the border.

He said, "The human rights abuser whose name is Maung Win was sentenced to three years in prison after he was expelled from Nasaka by Nasaka Chief Colonel Aung Gyi recently. He grossly abused the human rights of four local people in 2009."


Maung Win abused four local people at Taung Bro Way - Left Village near the Bangladesh border in March and April 2009, when he was posted as a member of Nasaka Camp No. 7 in the area. At that time, U Ko Ko Hling from Immigration department was in charge of the camp.

Maung Win and some Nasaka men arrested four local people in Taung Bro Way in March 2009 on accusations they had connections to exiled groups in Bangladesh, in order to extract bribes from them.

After the arrest, Maung Win demanded large bribes from them. When the four refused, the Nasaka men led by Maung Win tied their hands and legs with ropes after stripping them naked. During the night, Maung Win forced them to sleep on the ground after ants' nests were tied to their bodies.

"The next morning, the four men lost consciousness from such atrocities by Maung Win in the Nasaka camp. Afterward, Maung Win handed them over to their families," the official state.

The family members reportedly filed a complaint about the torture with the Nasaka Chief in Maungdaw and the ILO office in Rangoon.

Ten months later, Nasaka chief Aung Gyi investigated and later discharged Maung Win from Nasaka. He was finally sentenced to three years in prison.

"If the Nasaka chief didn't punish Maung Win, he would be facing trouble. So he was afraid of this, and later he dispelled Maung Win and punished him with prison," the official added.

Ref: Narinjara