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Human Rights Organisation Allege Government ‘Cover-up’ at the “Highest Levels” in Murder Investigation

The Burma Army covered up evidence that members of its armed forces may have raped and murdered two young Kachin teachers last year, a report released by the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT) alleged.

The report, entitled ‘Justice Delayed, Justice Denied,’ presented witness testimony that implicated Burma Army soldiers in the rape and murder of two women.

The report described how, on the 20th of January 2015, two women, Maran Lu Ra, 20, and Nan Tsin, 21, were found stabbed to death in their home at Kawng Kha village where they had been volunteer teachers. The previous evening the village had 50 Burma Army soldiers stationed there, led by a Major Aung Phyo Myint, from Light Infantry Battalion #503.

Villagers said they heard screams coming from the rooms of the two teachers early in the morning before their bodies were discovered. Burma Army soldiers had left the village in a truck before the bodies had been discovered, leading the villagers to allege that it must have been one or more of them.

Police were called to the scene, but failed to find any evidence implicating the military.

“The cover-up [extends] to the highest levels, with the government announcing after only ten days that the military were innocent of the crime, and President Thein Sein refusing to respond to appeals by the Kachin Baptist Convention to authorize their independent investigation into the case,” KWAT said in a statement.

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