More than a thousand people may have been killed since the Myanmar coup in circumstances that could qualify as crimes against humanity or war crimes, the head of UN investigators said on Monday.
On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military overthrew civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ended a decade of democratic transition, operating since then with bloody repression.
“Tragically, reports received over the past year suggest that well over a thousand people have been killed in circumstances that could amount to crimes against humanity or war crimes,” said Nicholas Koumjian, head of of the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.
“Security forces have detained thousands of civilians in circumstances that include credible allegations of arbitrary detention, torture, sexual violence and even murder in custody,” he added in a statement.
This investigative mechanism has been “able to gather a large number of relevant documents regarding these events and we are adding information and evidence to our files almost daily”.
Criminal proceedings in sight
Established by the UN Human Rights Council in September 2018, this investigative mechanism is mandated to collect evidence of the commission of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law in Myanmar. and compiling cases to facilitate criminal proceedings.
“Those contemplating committing crimes should know that serious international crimes are not subject to statute of limitations,” Koumjian said.
“International justice has a very long memory and, one day, the perpetrators of the most serious international crimes committed in Myanmar will have to be held accountable”, he warned, warning that UN investigators are “monitoring events closely”. .
A year after the overthrow of the civilian government by the army, pockets of rebellion are multiplying and pushing the junta to intensify repression, violence that has led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people.
Nearly 1,500 civilians were killed, nearly 12,000 arrested, according to a local NGO which lists cases of rape, torture and extrajudicial executions.
Several massacres of villagers have recently been attributed to the military.