Prisoner Pyuu Gyi tried to rape Mg Ye Yint Ko (b) Ye Ye, a political prisoner, in Tharyarwaddy Prison, the western part of Bago Region, according to the announcement of the Political Prisoners Network -Myanmar (PPNM).
Political prisoner Mg Ye Yint Ko, who is LGBT, was arrested by the military junta in September 2021. After he was sentenced to 96 years of imprisonment in Insein Prison under sections 50 (i), 51 (c), 54, 17 (1), and other weapon sections, he was transferred to Tharyarwaddy prison and was forced to live in solitary conferment in Building (a), according to the report of PPNM on May 4.
“We heard that the incident took place in the first week of February 2024. When he (Pyuu Gyi) tried to commit sexual harassment, the LGBT political prisoner refused it. At that time, he was hit by a stone on his head. He broke his head, and his wound was stuck in the prison hospital,” said Ko Thaik Tun Oo, a member of PPNM’s committee.
“It is known that the incident took place in the first week of February 2024. When he tried to commit such a crime, the LGBT political prisoner refused and hit his head with a pebble. He broke his head there and had to be admitted to the prison hospital,” said Ko Thaik Tun Oo, a member of PPNM’s steering committee.
Ko Thaik Tun Oo added that the PPNM group respects and honors Mg Ye Yint Ko (b) Ye Ye who did not accept such sexual harassment.
“After the military coup, we heard almost monthly sexual exploitation and assault targeting LGBTQ+ prisoners. We can’t accept such incidents. To prevent such incidents from happening again, prison authorities need to effectively punish other criminal prisoners who try to sexually exploit LGBTQ+ people. If the action is not effectively taken, it will encourage the criminal prisoners to commit atrocities and rapes on LGBTQ+ people,” said Ko Thaik Tun Oo.
In addition, a political prisoner who was released from Thayarawaddy prison said that Pyuu Gyi, a criminal prisoner from Thayarawaddy prison, sexually exploited and insulted other LGBTQ+ people and was trained by the prison authorities to oppress political prisoners.
“Pyuu Gyi committed sexual assault on LGBT male prisoners, and he used excessively obscene language without any rules. And he forced the political prisoners to do pone-san (demeaning, defamatory, and coercive control of prisoners’ bodies). If those prisoners didn’t look good in pone-san, those prisoners were beaten. The prison authorities gave a favor to him, so only political prisoners who had a problem with him were punished, but he was not punished,” the political prisoner added.
Mg Ye Yint Ko (b) Ye Ye who was sexually harassed like this, is only 24 years old and is currently still sentenced in Tharyarwaddy Prison.