This year, on May 30, was the seventh anniversary of the Depayin massacre. On 30 May 2003, Aung San Suu Kyi, Secretary General of the National League for Democracy (NLD), other NLD members and their supporters were attacked near the town of Depayin while their convoy was en-route to northern Burma. Although Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo, NLD vice chairman, escaped the attack site, a large number of persons were brutally killed or injured by a well armed group. Both Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo were detained on their way back to Rangoon and subsequently placed under house arrest.
There was considerable outcry after the massacre, but all calls for an investigation into the massacre were ignored by Burma’s military regime. No national or international commission was formed and no perpetrators were brought to justice. Rather, many NLD leaders and members were arrested afterwards, including survivors of the attack. Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest seven years later.
Without any independent investigation into the Depayin attack, the perpetrators continue to enjoy impunity. Not only does the Burmese regime perpetrate crimes against its political opponents, but also towards ordinary citizens. During the 2007 nationwide protests, the state used violence against unarmed civilians asking for national reconciliation and lower food and fuel prices. During the crackdown against the protests, the regime killed at least 31 persons while arresting over 3000.
Conditions in Burmese prisons are desperate, rife with torture, mistreatment, poor sanitation, inadequate health care, and irregular visits from family with food supplies for their loved ones. Most of Burma’s prisons and forced labor camps are closed to international monitors.
To further indicate its lack of empathy and concern for its citizens, the regime forcibly held a national referendum regarding a new constitution in the wake of a cyclone that left hundreds of thousands destitute and homeless in 2008. Government sources then reported that more than 90 percent of civilians voted and supported the constitution. Under this constitution, the military government has planned general elections to be held sometime this year. How can there be any credible elections when persons are not free to politically associate, or when the media is not free to report or analyze events? Censorship, intimidation and imprisonment—daily tools of the military regime—are incompatible with a free election.
In early February 2010, U Tin Oo was finally released from house arrest. The interview conducted with him and other NLD members by Radio Free Asia on 30 May 2010 is as follows (translated):
Depayin massacre as seen by eye witnesses
On 30 May 2003, in a convoy headed into northern Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, secretary general of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Tin Oo, vice-chairperson of NLD, its members and villagers who followed them, were attacked and some killed. They were put upon by a group at a village called Kyi, near the town of Depayin. Before this massacre, they had been harassed by a group trained by the military junta.
U Tin Oo: “When we arrived at the Kyi village, we stopped for the first time. As it was a little dark, we had to turn our car lights on. When we saw Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s car moving forward we followed. When her car stopped, we stopped. This happened three times. Then, the car stopped a fourth time. A young man, following behind us on a motorbike, came up to us saying that they had come under attack by a group.
People from the Dina bus came forward saying that those following had been badly beaten. They surrounded both Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s car and mine to protect us. They told me to not get out of my car because of the precarious situation. So, we stopped our car for a while and I went to check on Aung San Suu Kyi’s car. As she had been seated in the middle of her car, she was not hit. But she knew that people had been badly beaten. As the place was very dangerous, I wanted her to move to a safer place. I asked her to go on. But she refused saying that she could not abandon the people beaten by the terrorist group. I was so worried about her at that time because of the chaos around us where people were screaming and shouting.
Shortly after the terrorist group advanced to the car behind Aung San Suu Kyi’s, they again started beating people. I ran towards her car asking her to drive on, but she refused. As the terrorist group came near to her car, Toe Lwin, one of her bodyguards, shouted at them not to beat her. He asked them to think about what would happen if they beat her and how the international community would react.
I myself shouted at them to stop the beatings, because they all had weapons. However, they continued. I then fell down, but I heard some youths beating on Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s car which was surrounded. Then, Aung San Suu Kyi’s car started moving forward. Even though they followed her car, she was able to escape. When I went back to my car, it had already left. I stood up beside the road in the darkness and ran towards Depayin. While running, I heard the terrorist group leader giving orders, “Man 1 join here, Man 2 Join there.” Finished with their beatings, the terrorists closed ranks. As I was making my escape, I met up with a man called Dr Win Aung. Blood was coming from his mouth and his clothes were covered in blood. While walking, we heard the Depayin authorities announcing that Act 144, which is the State Protection Law, is operative in this situation. We then found the other members and joined them.”
TOE LWIN: The man responsible for Aung Sun Suu Kyi’s safety, Toe Lwin, said that he was beaten by the terrorist group ‘Suan Arr Shin’.
“Twenty people armed with weapons approached Daw Suu’s car. Htun Myint, Sun Tun and I were beside her vehicle. I asked them to not to beat her car because Daw Suu was inside. However, Daw Suu had already told us not to do anything except in self-defense. I was very worried so I urged her to go on. As she refused, I told the driver to drive away from this place. When I asked him to move, I was beaten for the first time around the head. After they beat me for the second time, I became dizzy and fell unconscious. It was dark when I regained consciousness and I hid. As daylight came the police arrived. They arrested about 80 NLD members including myself and put us in jail.”
U Tin Oo, vice-chairman of NLD said that the terrorist group which systematically attacked them was under military orders.
U Tin Oo: “When the lights were turned on and off, I thought that Daw Suu’s driver was signaling to us to come closer. So three other members and I went quickly to her car. Unfortunately, we found ourselves surrounded by many terrorist cars, all with their headlights trained on us. They were shouting “beat, beat”. Later, the one who seemed to be the leader got out of his car. Some of his followers said that one of their members was now in hospital. He said one of our cars that had passed them drove very fast, causing injury to their comrade. They said they had to revenge this by beating us. I told them that we had already been beaten by them and most of the people had died. So I asked them why they would beat us as there were no problems between us. In addition, we were not armed, did not wish to harm them and were here with permission. By treating us like this, they are punishable by law. Then, the leader asked us where we were supposed to go and why. I replied that we were going to Depayin to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi. He said he would think about it. As a parting gesture, they photographed us and let us go.”
Daw Nyunt Nyunt: “Their coordinated actions appeared to us like a team that had been well trained. They stopped driving and shone lights on us. They got down from their cars and beat all the people who were in the other vehicles. The young people on motorbikes were beaten by four people each. I was taken from the bus, struck by four persons asking what Aung San Suu Kyi has done for us and whether I want to be a wife to westerners. I was hit with bamboo and beaten several times. Before I became unconscious I saw two people from the car just in front of me die. One was a photographer, another was an NLD member. Shortly before he died, one of them asked me to look after his daughter. When I woke up, I tried to stand and went to our bus nearby. Late in the night, four villagers and a monk approached us. I asked them for help to go to a safer place. As I looked around, one of the drivers was dead due to his injuries. His eyes had been dug out. The young people on motorbikes were dead. All in all, about 80 people were dead on the path I crossed.”
After this massacre, government authorities arrested more NLD members and students, sending them to prison. U Tin Oo was in prison for nine months and then under house arrest for seven years. Later on the military junta was in dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi. She said that she did not speak out about the Depayin massacre in order to facilitate a reconciliation of both sides, and to move forward the development in political, economic and social areas in Burma. She asked them to release all political prisoners, to give permission to open NLD offices and to reconcile. But not one of these requests was accepted.
The NLD members who experienced this atrocity want the truth to surface and justice meted out to those offenders guilty of grave crimes. But the NLD are ready to forget the massacre and desire only reconciliation [http://www.rfa.org/burmese/audio].
