During the last one year, a total of 6,451 people were arrested and tortured by the military junta throughout Myanmar, according to the 2023 Annual Report on Human Rights Violations released by the Human Rights Program of the New Myanmar Foundation.
The above list was data collected between February and December in 2023, and the report stated that the arrests and tortures by the military were conducted to suppress anti-military activities and to instill fear in the public.
Those who were released from interrogation and some family members said that the junta troops used various inhumane methods of torture to cause excruciating pain when arresting those who opposed them.
“During the interrogation, my bones were beaten until the nails were bent every day, then the ankles and knuckles were beaten to be dislocated, and the heads were split all around. But no medicine was given and no water was given. So, if I was thirsty, I had to lick the blood mixed with water on the floor when washing my wounds off after beating,” a young man aged 24 who was tortured in interrogation for a month told MPA about his experience.
There have also been cases of disappearances and deaths in custody and interrogation that could not be reached by human rights recorders.
“Since the military coup, the people who were peacefully protesting have started to be crushed with weapons and were violent. Many people were killed in prisons during interrogations like this. The regime has been doing this for ages. In order to stop such violence, it is necessary to root out all the pillars of the military junta,” said Ma Zue Zue May Yoon, the founder of the Women Political Prisoners Association.
According to human rights observers, the military junta often describes those arrested as ‘terrorists’ and ‘armed rebels’ in the media outlets and social media pages under their control, and never discloses the torture committed by the junta in the interrogation centers and prisons.
The aunt of a 21-year-old youth who was sentenced three years in prison said, “Since he was arrested, he was dragged down from the 7th floor to the ground, being beaten with gun butts and kicked. They (junta troops) tortured him like this without sympathy. I don’t know if they have any children. I think they can’t see and sympathize with those children who were tortured like their children when they were beating children of this age.”
In addition, the report stated that sexual violence against different genders is a common form of torture in interrogation centers and prisons, but such sexual violent incidents remain underreported.