VICE
This is the first time former members of Myanmar's military have admitted mass atrocities against Rohingya and is seen as a "huge development" in human rights cases filed against the country's top generals. Smoke billows above what is believed to be a burning village in Myanmar's Rakhine state as members of the Rohingya Muslim minority take shelter in a no-man's land between Bangladesh and Myanmar in Ukhia on Sept. 4, 2017. Photo: K.M. ASAD / AFP
Two former soldiers from
Myanmar admitted to taking part in the killing of up to 180 Rohingya men, women and children during a crackdown on the Muslim minority in 2017, a
prominent rights group said Tuesday, September 8, releasing explosive testimony that is unprecedented as it comes from onetime members of the deeply secretive military.
In video testimony obtained by NGO Fortify Rights, Private Myo Win Tun said he executed people during operations that started in August 2017 in northern
Rakhine state and that one of his commanders ordered soldiers to “exterminate all kalar,” a derogatory reference to Muslims in Myanmar. He also admitted to rape.
“The Muslim men were shot on their foreheads and kicked into the grave,” he said, according to the transcript translation, which was also
reported in the New York Times.
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