One of the hallmarks of civilised nations is the upholding of and an adherence to a strong, fair, and transparent legal system.

 

Such a system is a key tenet in ensuring that basic human rights are protected, whether for the innocent or the guilty.

 

The absence of a healthy legal system is often a sign of dark days to come for any nation or society.

 

Sadly, the military junta that seized power in Myanmar some 15 months ago seems unwilling to learn the lessons of history and appears hell-bent on dismantling the legal rights of ordinary people around the country.

 

Some of the clearest evidence of this desperate callousness in the junta is seen in the disappearance of people the military deems its opponents.

 

Hundreds of people have been seized by the military since the coup, but often no information is released about the detainees to friends or family who are desperate for information about them.

 

Among the more prominent of those seized is Thura Aung, a figure well-known in Mandalay for his opposition to the military’s seizure of power.

 

On February 9, Thura Aung was taken away by police, a force that falls under the control of the military, but to this day no one has any idea of his whereabouts or his well being.

 

“Some four months after he was taken, there are lots of rumours about where he is but all of it has been inaccurate. As best as we can tell he is in the Nan Dwin interrogation site, which is notorious for torturing opposition figures,” a member of the Anti-Coup Forces Coordiantion Committee - Mandalay (AFCC - Mandalay) told Burma Associated Press who has been granted anonymity for his safety.

 

However, this is still just speculation and no one can even confirm if he is still alive

.

According to people who saw Thura Aung being detained on February 9, he was with three other people at the time, two freelance journalists, and a protester. All four were arrested in Mahar Aung Myay Township Mandalay.

 

However, just the other three detainees were sent to Mandalay’s Obo Prison on May 9, says a source with knowledge of the matter. No one has been able to determine what has become of Thura Aung.

 

Meanwhile, another young protestor who has disappeared after detention is  Kyaw Swar Win aka Felix.

 

Kyaw Swar Win was seized by the junta while actively participating in the Revolution Day strike on March 27. The strike had been called by the opposition National Unity Government to announce widespread resistance to the coup and coincided with Armed Forces Day.

 

According to AFCC - Mandalay, Kyaw Swar Win was seen by witnesses being brutally beaten as he was taken away and no one knows what has become of him since.

 

“His family has not been given any information about where he is being detained and everyone is extremely concerned about his  condition,” said the AFCC - Mandalay source.

 

Since the call in March for active resistance against the junta many families have lost touch with people who opposed the junta in various ways and were then detained.

 

This appears to a form of psychological torture inflicted on the families, relatives, and friends of those disappeared by a junta already notorious for its use of physical torture, said a member of the Assisstance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a monitoring group that tries to keep track of of people seized by the military.

 

“The junta appears to be retaliating with unbridled hatred. They are clearly violating not only local laws but also international human rights norms,” the AAPP member added.

 

While many of those who have disappeared into the brutality of the junta’s machinery, horrifyingly, even women and children are not safe.

 

Thae Thae aka Wai Wai was shot and arrested for allegedly supporting the People’s Defence Forces in Insein Township, Yangon on April 5. Soon after that her four-year-old son was taken while he was in his pre-school. People who witnessed the taking of the boy say they believe it was done to coerce Thae Thae’s husband, who is also accused of opposing the junta, to surrender himself to the military.

 

“Sources close to the family say they have not been able to find out any information at all about the whereabouts of Thae Thae and her son,”  a member of the AAPP says.

 

“The people who gave the orders to commit such horrifying acts and those who carried out those orders will surely be held accountable in any future efforts, whether locally or internationally,  to bring about justice for the people of Myanmar,” he added.

 

“What the junta is doing is clearly a crime against humanity. They are carrying out unlawful detentions and torture as a means to cow the population,” the AAPP says.

 

 

“What the junta is doing is clearly a crime against humanity. They are carrying out unlawful detentions and torture as a means to cow the population,” the AAPP says.

 

A senior lawyer with insight of the situation on the ground in Myanmar says it is difficult to counter the military’s actions in cases when people are snatched off the streets, where people might not even be able to identify who is being detained or there are no witnesses.

 

At least if someone is arrested in their homes, there might be family members who can attempt to gain information from the police, he added.

 

“Under normal circumstances, there would be recourse to legally require the Myanmar Police Force to provide information about a detainee three to five days after an arrest, but that right was summarily removed by the military after the coup,” the attorney said.

 

“The military removed rights, such as the right to not be unlawfully detained and the right to legal representation, for ordinary people when it unilaterally declared a period of emergency and overthrew the rightful government,” the lawyer said.

 

“The legal principle of habeas corpus, where a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court determine whether the detention is lawful, has effectively been suspended by the military with its declaration of an emergency, so ordinary people have essentially lost the protection of the law,” the attorney added.

 

“Habeas corpus is the legal protection that prevents the very abuses such as the disappearing of people or torturing them in detention that we are seeing being rampantly carried out by the junta,” said another lawyer who actively follows the cases of people snatched up by the military.

 

While the military’s actions are obviously a method to stamp out opposition to its rule, they might actually be counterproductive, instead stiffening the will to fight in its opponents.

 

Some members of People’s Defence Forces units and other organisations actively resisting the junta have publicly affirmed that they will fight to the end because of the disappearances of people and vow to overcome the perpetrators of such horrors.

Burma Associated Press