According to the Shan Human Rights NGO after a bomb explosion in Kyaukme town junta troops stopped two villagers riding a motorcycle and beat them so severely that one of them died of his injuries., on 29 March 2022.
The explosion, caused by an improvised explosive device (IED), occurred at the Kyaukme municipal office at about 4 pm. The roof of the municipal office was slightly damaged by the blast.
At that time, the two men, Sai Bee, age 43, and his nephew Sai Aung Kyaw Oo, age 28, were riding a motorcycle to buy some food in Quarter 9 after buying a smartphone in Quarter 6 of Kyaukme Town. While returning to Nawng Bing Village they were stopped by more than 20 junta soldiers at a traffic light in Quarter 6. Sai Aung Kyaw Oo was driving the motorcycle, and Sai Bee was pillion.
The troops interrogated the men about the bomb blast and beat and pushed them to the ground. They kicked them multiple times in the head and chest until both fell unconscious. The troops then put them into an army car, and took Sai Aung Kyaw Oo to Kyaukme police station and Sai Bee to Kyaukme hospital. A soldier drove their motorcycle to the police station.
After about an hour, the troops phoned the police to inform them that Sai Bee had been certified dead at the hospital. The police then released Sai Aung Kyaw Oo, returned his motorbike key, and told him he could go to the hospital.
Sai Aung Kyaw Oo did not go to see his uncle’s body that evening, but phoned his relatives to come from Pong Wo Village to collect the body from the hospital.
On 30 March, at about 1 pm, Sai Bee’s relatives from Pong Wo came to the hospital. They had to pay 50,000 kyat for the autopsy. They then took his body to Kyaukme cemetery for burial at about 2 pm.
The funeral cost over 500,000 kyat, but the military did not provide any compensation for his family or for the funeral ceremony. Sai Bee was a widower who stayed with his elder sister. He had five sisters in his family, and was the youngest brother. He worked at a car workshop in Kyaukme.
Sai Aung Kyaw Oo explained what had happened to them, he said: “We were riding a motorcycle from the phone shop, where we had bought a smartphone. While we were riding past the municipal office, we heard the sound of an explosion, but we just kept driving. We rode our motorbike to go and buy some food at a place nearby. When we came back, we met a group of junta soldiers on the road. They stopped us, and then beat and kicked us.”
When Sai Aung Kyaw Oo was arrested, the soldiers took about 45,000 kyat and his ID card from his wallet. About 700,000 kyat was taken from Sai Bee, who had come to Kyaukme to apply for a new ID card. He was staying in Nawng Bing Village and had called his nephew and asked him to bring some household documents for the ID application. Sai Aung Kyaw Oo had left Pong Wo on the morning of 29 March to come to Kyaukme.
On 30 March after Sai Bee’s funeral, the Nam Khong charity group went to the police station to ask for Sai Aung Kyaw Oo’s ID card and the confiscated money. The police said that they had not seen any money. They said that the only item handed over by the soldiers at the police station had been Sai Aung Kyaw Oo’s motorbike.
Sai Aung Kyaw Oo is still suffering physical and mental health problems from his beating by the junta soldiers.
On 3 February 2022, a 44-year-old displaced farmer called Sai Tun Win was similarly beaten and kicked to death in Kyaukme Town by junta military intelligence officers, who falsely accused him of being a drug dealer and a PDF member. His family has also received no compensation until now, even though the junta authorities have admitted his arrest was a “mistake”.
