Type of Incident

1.    Theft

Date of Incident

December 16, 2018

Incident Location

V--- village, Kyainseikgyi Township, Dooplaya District

Name

Naw K---

Sex

Female

Ethnicity

Karen

Family   

Married

Religion

Christian

Village

V--- village

Name              

Rank

Unit

Base

Commander’s Name

Nee Chay

Corporal

Infantry Battalion #32

Kyainseikgyi town

-Battalion Commander Thein Soe Htiek

-Battalion Deputy Commander Than Zaw

1. Explain in detail how you collected this information.

A local villager told me about this case. I met with the victim, Naw K---, to ask her about the theft. She agreed to tell me about her case but did not want to conduct a full interview or have her photos taken for security reasons.

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

This is information was provided by Naw K---, a local farmer whose buffalos were stolen.

Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail.

On December 16th 2018, Corporal Nee Chay and two soldiers from Tatmadaw Infantry Battalion # 32 stole two buffalos belonging to Naw K---, a local farmer. They sold the buffalos for 1,000,000 kyat (US $650) to U T---, a local Muslim farmer.   [This is a violation of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement Chapter 2, which prohibits signatories from stealing property from civilians.]

When Naw K--- was searching for her buffalos, she found them with U T---. She submitted this case to the village authorities. U T--- was arrested. When he was questioned, he explained that Corporal Nee Chay and his soldiers had sold the buffalos to him.

The IB # 32 Deputy Commander Than Zaw told Naw K--- to not share this information. He told her that he would take action to resolve this case. The soldiers received a six-month punishment in line with the policies of their Battalion.

This is not the first incident in which soldiers from IB # 32 stole cows and buffalos from local farmers to sell them. Naw K--- said: “I want to share this information with you to try to stop this type of incident from happening again. I would like for this information to be published because IB # 32 oppresses local people in Kya In township.”

According to the customary village justice system, U T--- had to give 600,000 kyat (US $ 390) as compensation to the buffalo owner, Naw K---. He was too afraid to ask Corporal Nee Chay to give him back the money he had paid for the buffalos.  

Did the victim provide permission to use this i.nformation? Explain how that permission was provided.

Naw K--- gave us permission to use this information.