Advertisement

'Shoot all you see': Myanmar soldiers confess for first time to Rohingya atrocities

Rohingya refugees flee to Bangladesh in 2017 - Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters
Rohingya refugees flee to Bangladesh in 2017 - Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters

Two deserting soldiers from the Myanmar army have claimed they were told by commanding officers to “shoot all that you see and hear” during a brutal military operation against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority in 2017.

The witness statements from the two soldiers is the first time that members of the military have openly admitted to participating in what a United Nations fact-finding mission has described as a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya.

They are reported to have been transferred to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, in what could be a major boost to efforts to hold the Southeast Asian nation to account over genocide charges. 

In videoed confessions viewed by the NGO, Private Myo Win Tun, 33, and Private Zaw Naing Tun, 30, confess to killings and rapes during the army “clearance operations,” with both independently claiming they were acting on orders from commanders to “exterminate all [Rohingya]."

“This is a monumental moment for Rohingya and the people of Myanmar in their ongoing struggle for justice,” said Matthew Smith, CEO of Fortify Rights. “These men could be the first perpetrators from Myanmar tried at the ICC, and the first insider witnesses in the custody of the court. We expect prompt action.”

About one million Rohingya refugees live in cramped camps in Bangladesh - Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
About one million Rohingya refugees live in cramped camps in Bangladesh - Cathal McNaughton/Reuters

The brutal military purge of the Rohingya population in 2017 caused some three quarters of a million people to flee rape, arson and murder into neighbouring Bangladesh where they continue to languish in squalid refugee camps with little hope of returning home.

The New York Times reported that the two men were transferred to the ICC on Monday and placed in custody although not under arrest. Fortify Rights has called for the court to offer them witness protection.

The Myanmar government, and its civilian leader, former human rights icon Aung San Suu Kyi, has repeatedly denied there was a concerted campaign of atrocities against the Rohingya.

Last year Ms Suu Kyi personally travelled to the Hague to defend the country against charges of genocide in a separate case pursued by a Gambian-led prosecution team at the International Court of Justice. 

In the taped confessions – which could not be independently verified but which echoed victim testimonies – Private Zaw Naing Tun confesses to killings, burying bodies in mass graves, and other crimes against the Rohingya in five villages in Maungdaw Township during the 2017 operations.

Myo Win Tun describes his involvement in killing Rohingya women, men, and children, and he admits to rape in Taung Bazar village and surrounding villages in Buthidaung Township in September of the same year.

The soldiers provide the names and ranks of 19 direct perpetrators from the Myanmar Army, including themselves, as well as six senior commanders in the Myanmar Army who they claim ordered or contributed to atrocity crimes against Rohingya, including a lieutenant colonel, a colonel, and three captains.

The confessions were filmed separately by The Arakan Army—an ethnic armed group currently engaged in armed conflict with the Myanmar Army in Rakhine State. Both describe the location of mass graves.

“These confessions demonstrate what we’ve long known, which is that the Myanmar Army is a well-functioning national army operating with a specific and centralised command structure,” said Mr Smith.

“Commanders control, direct, and order their subordinates in all they do. In this case, commanders ordered foot soldiers to commit genocidal acts and exterminate Rohingya, and that’s exactly what they did.”