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The Star

Junta accused of routine torture

In ruins: A building destroyed in a bombardment carried out by the military on April 19 in Thabeikkyin township, Mandalay region. Koumjian says that the IIMM had observed 'a continued rise in the frequency and brutality of atrocities' while making 'progress in identifying the perpetrators.' — AFP UN investigators say they have recorded 'systematic' torture in Myanmar's military-run detention facilities including beatings, electric shocks and gang rape. Myanmar has been in a civil war since the military deposed the civilian government in a 2021 coup, with troops fighting an array of pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic armed groups. The fighting has been accompanied by a crackdown which has seen nearly 30,000 people arres­ted, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitor group. A report by the UN's Inde­pen­dent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) said it had ­identified 'serious abuses during inter­rogations and in detention facilities'. A junta spokesman could not be reached for comment on the ­allegations laid out in an IIMM annual report released on Tues­day, drawing on testimony from nearly 600 eyewitnesses. It said there had been 'syste­matic commission' of torture including 'sexual slavery', the 'burning of sexual body parts with cigarettes or burned objects' and fingernails being pulled out with pliers. It also found evidence 'indi­ca­ting that children – ranging from two to 17 years of age – have been detained, often as proxies for their parents'. 'Some of the detained children have been subjected to torture, ill-treatment or sexual and gender-­based crimes,' it added. IIMM chief Nicholas Koumjian said the organisation had seen 'a continued increase in the fre­quency and brutality of ­atro­cities' but had made 'headway in iden­tifying the perpe­tra­tors'. 'We are working towards the day when the perpetrators will have to answer for their actions in a court of law,' he added. The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has ­alrea­dy requested an arrest ­warrant for junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, who ousted and jailed elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. That warrant request relates to alleged atrocities committed by the military on Myanmar's Rohing­ya minority in 2017. All sides in Myanmar's civil war have been accused of committing war crimes, and the IIMM report said it had also identified cases where opposition groups had committed summary executions of captives. — AFP