An unverified graphic image shows a body with its head blown apart and brain debris on the road.
“He said it’s worth dying for,” she said. “He is concerned that people will not participate in the protest. If so, democracy will not return to the country.”
According to the AAPP, more than 2,000 people have been arbitrarily detained since the coup, many of them kept out of contact with family and friends, and their condition or whereabouts are unknown.
CNN cannot independently verify AAPP’s arrest numbers or death toll.
Myanmar’s state-run daily published a message on Wednesday reinforcing the military’s story that it uses minimal violence against protesters.
On Thursday, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said in a statement to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that a “growing number of reports” indicate that the junta’s security forces are “committing murder, incarceration.” prosecution and other crimes as part of a coordinated campaign against a civilian population in a widespread and systematic manner, with knowledge of the leadership of the junta. “
The “brutal response,” he said, “is likely to meet the legal threshold for crimes against humanity.”
He called on UN member states to stop the flow of revenues and weapons to the junta and said multilateral sanctions “should be imposed” on senior leaders, companies owned and controlled by the military and state energy company Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise.
His statement came after the rights group Amnesty International released a report that the military started a “massacre” in Myanmar, using increasingly deadly tactics and weapons normally seen on the battlefield against peaceful protesters and bystanders.
By verifying more than 50 videos of the ongoing crackdown, Amnesty’s Crisis Evidence Lab confirmed that security forces appear to be implementing planned, systematic strategies, including the accelerated use of deadly force, the random spraying of live ammunition in urban areas, and that many of the the documented murders amount to extrajudicial killings.
“These military tactics in Myanmar are far from new, but their killings have never been live-streamed for the world to see,” said Joanne Mariner, crisis response director at Amnesty International. These are not the actions of overwhelmed, individual officers making bad decisions. These are unrepentant commanders who are already involved in crimes against humanity and who are using their troops and murderous methods in public.
Flight to India
There are indications that the violence is forcing people to flee the country. Between 200 and 300 people have crossed the border from Myanmar into the northeastern state of Mizoram of India, fleeing the unrest, Mizoram’s prime minister told CNN.
That number includes police, officials, their relatives and other citizens and the number of refugees is increasing daily, said Chief Minister PU Zoramthanga.
“We (the Mizoram government) are not sending them back from a humanitarian point of view. If someone enters the country, the border of the country, we cannot just send them back out of fear for their lives. They are not criminals. It is a political issue. , ‘he said.
Zormanthanga added that people receive food and shelter, and many have relatives in Mizoram. He said it is up to the Indian central government how to deal with people crossing the border.
Suu Kyi charged with bribery
Military spokesman Brig. General Zaw Min Tun said in a press conference that Suu Kyi accepted illegal payments worth $ 600,000 as well as gold while in government, Reuters said.
The spokesperson added that the information had been verified following a complaint from a former Yangon regional minister, and an anti-corruption commission was investigating.
Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, told CNN that “the allegations are a complete fabrication.”
“I have been in politics in Myanmar for nearly 40 years, and in all those years I have not witnessed such blatant accusations,” he said. “We are in a country where the people have seen a lot of corruption in the past and experienced a lot of misconduct, but Aung San Suu Kyi is not in that atmosphere of corruption.”
He added that while he has had “a lot of disagreements” with Suu Kyi, “when it comes to corruption, bribery, greed – this isn’t her, she’s not that kind of woman.”
Along with Suu Kyi, deposed president Win Myint, his wife and several ministers were investigated for allegedly asking and accepting “money from some entrepreneurs,” the spokesman said, without clarifying, Reuters said.
Suu Kyi and Win Myint remain under house arrest.
The military, led by coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing, took full control of the country last month and deposed the democratically elected government of Suu Kyi, which had won a landslide in the November 2020 elections.
The military justified its action by accusing it of widespread voter fraud in that poll – only the second democratic vote since the previous military junta began a series of reforms in 2011.
In a video statement to the UN Human Rights Council, Chan Aye, permanent secretary of Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “In recent days, the relevant authorities have been paying attention to maintaining law and order in the country,” and “the authorities have exercised the utmost restraint to deal with the violent protests. “
Chan Aye also said the military leadership remains committed to “free and fair multi-party democratic elections”.
In a statement, Chinese Ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun, said, “It is important that Council members speak with one voice. We hope the Council’s message will be conducive to alleviating the situation in Myanmar.”
Kyaw Moe Tun said the message “does not live up to the people’s expectations”, opposed the brutality of the military, “we all feel helpless” and called on the international community for protection.
CNN’s Sarita Harilela, Vedika Sud, Richard Roth and Radina Gigova contributed to the reporting.