(Reuters) – A demonstrator in Myanmar who says he was detained by soldiers for three hours as part of the crackdown on opponents of last month’s military coup described being beaten with belts, chains, bamboo poles and batons.
In a rare first-hand account of the treatment of detained activists, the man told Reuters he was one of about 60 people arrested on Tuesday by police in Myeik, a southern coastal town, while hiding in a house. after the start of a protest by them.
A military spokesman did not respond to calls seeking comment on the man’s allegations. Myeik’s police station did not answer the phone. The army said earlier that it is dealing with protests legally.
The man provided photos that he said were taken by his family, showing injuries to his back, neck and shoulders.
Reuters found that the photos were of the man and that his family had taken them. The news agency, which spoke to the man on the phone, was unable to verify his report.
The protesters were placed in a truck and handed over to troops at Myeik airbase, where the men were separated from the women, photographed and taken to a room, the man said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of being arrested again.
Reuters was unable to contact the air base for comment.
“We were beaten up all the time, even as we went to the living room,” he said. “The soldiers said, ‘This is the room of hell, why don’t you try it?'”
He described being instructed to kneel and said that five of the group were instructed to face each other while being beaten on the back, head, neck and sides. He said he was later released along with several others without explanation. Some others were formally arrested and sent to prison.
Reuters was unable to contact the prison for comment.
Pyae Phyo Aung, a former member of the student union in Myeik who has been in contact with liberated protesters, told Reuters that 32 people were arrested in the incident, according to a list he helped compile for civil society groups. He said he saw another protester with injuries to his back and hips.
“When I met him, he couldn’t even sit down,” said Pyae Phyo Aung. “He was lying on his stomach because of the wounds on his hips.”
Myanmar has been in crisis since the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup on February 1 and detained it along with other politicians.
The military says an election in November won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) was marked by fraud – a claim rejected by the national electoral commission – and created a board to govern the country while waiting for a new vote on a date unspecified.
Security forces have increasingly suppressed daily protests across the country, and more than 60 protesters have been killed and 1,900 people arrested since the coup, the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners said.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm the figures.
At least two people, both NLD officers, have died in custody since last Saturday after being arrested, according to party sources, although the reason for their deaths is not known. The military did not comment on this.
(Reporting by the Reuters team, written by Raju Gopalakrishnan; edited by Angus MacSwan)