Engnews June 2022

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RFA Breaking News: 'I had to cut off the head, bro': Myanmar troops swap slaughter stories

by Paul Eckert

‘I had to cut off the head, bro’: Myanmar soldiers swap slaughter stories By Khin Maung Soe and Nayrein Kyaw for RFA Burmese June 17, 2022 - Two armed men stand behind a tangle of bodies leaking blood which congeals in the dust. Each of the five victims is blindfolded, hands tied behind their back, and appear to have been killed by gunfire or a blade to the throat. The armed men – one with his rifle slung over his shoulder and the other smoking a cigarette – strike a nonchalant pose that is recorded for posterity in a series of grisly photos captured on a soldier’s phone. These graphic images are among a cache of files recently obtained by RFA Burmese that document atrocities apparently committed by soldiers during military operations in Myanmar’s war-torn Sagaing region. The files include a video in which those two same armed men joke about how many people they have killed, and how they have killed them. The contents were retrieved from a cell phone that was found by a villager in Sagaing’s Ayadaw township where the military had been conducting raids amid an offensive against the anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitary group. An intermediary who obtained the video and photos forwarded them to RFA in Washington. Among the many images is one of about 30 men with their hands tied behind their backs on the grounds of a monastery. Two of what appear to be the same men are seen dead in the photos taken a day later of the five victims of execution. Another series of photos shows a young man with his arms bound behind him, his face puffy and bloodied. An outstretched hand holds his chin up, forcing him to look into the camera, while a second hand holds a knife to his chest over his heart. The images also include many ‘selfie’ photos of a soldier, seemingly the phone’s owner. He also features in the video and the photos of the dead bodies. The 10-and-a-half-minute video shows him and two other men mugging for the camera and chatting in crude terms about the number of people they have killed and what they did with the bodies. The phone’s owner, who wears a wide smile and sometimes slurs his words, has a hand grenade pinned to his chest. More armed men can be seen in the background. “You said you killed 26 people. How did you kill them? Just shooting them with a gun?” asks the phone’s owner of one of his fellow soldiers. “Of course, we killed them with our guns. But not with our hands,” the soldier responds. “For us, we even killed a lot by slitting their throats. I, myself, killed five,” the phone’s owner says. “I have never [slit throats],” the third soldier chimes in. The second soldier then reconsiders his personal tally of death. “I think eight,” he says. “I killed eight [by slitting throats].” Clues in the images A closer look at the photos provides proof that these men serve in Myanmar’s military. Soldiers in the photos sport the arm badge of the Myanmar Army and, in at least one photo, the Northwest Military Command based in Sagaing. Soldiers are seen with bamboo baskets normally used as backpacks by junta soldiers. Numbers on rifle butts in the photos even help identify one military unit. RFA asked Capt. Lin Htet Aung, a defector from the military who has joined the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), about the evidence. He said the numbers “708” and “4” seen on the guns indicate they are from the 4th Company of the Light Infantry Battalion 708 (708 LIB). The battalion belongs to the Yangon-based Military Operations Command No. 4 (MOC-4) which has been deployed to Sagaing and Magway regions and may be involved in joint operations there, he said. When contacted about the material recovered from the cell phone, junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun told RFA that authorities had opened a probe into the matter. “Regarding these incidents, we can respond only after investigation in the field,” he said. “We are now investigating it.” Full story at [ https://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/myanmar-soldier-atrocities/index.h… | https://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/myanmar-soldier-atrocities/index.h… ] # # # Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the United States Agency for Global Media.

2 years, 6 months

RFA Expands Editorial Capacity and Reach with New Roles, Divisions

by RFA Communications

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : June 16, 2022 Contact: Rohit Mahajan | 202.530.4976 | [ mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org | mahajanr(a)rfa.org ] [ https://www.rfa.org/about/releases/rfa-expands-editorial-capacity-and-reach… | RFA Expands Editorial Capacity and Reach with New Roles, Divisions ] Veteran journalist Matthew Pennington named Senior Managing Editor, as investigative and fact-check units added WASHINGTON – [ https://www.rfa.org/english/ | Radio Free Asia ] (RFA) today announced changes to its editorial team, and the department as a whole, as part of a broader strategic expansion that includes the creation of new journalistic investigative and fact-check units. With the changes, veteran journalist Matthew Pennington, formerly RFA’s Managing Editor of Southeast Asia, will serve as Senior Managing Editor, a newly created role. Pennington will lead daily newsroom operations, reporting to Executive Editor Min Mitchell. He also will directly oversee RFA’s digital affiliate [ https://www.benarnews.org/english | BenarNews ] , as well as the investigative unit, which will work with RFA’s language services to produce in-depth, long-form reports. These initiatives are part of a wider set of shifts to realize RFA’s strategic vision to sharpen its editorial capacity covering China, Hong Kong, North Korea, Myanmar, Cambodia and other places in Asia with restricted media environments that are inundated with authoritarian disinformation. “We are thrilled to take these key steps that will strengthen RFA’s incisive brand of journalism,” Mitchell said. “In leading many of these efforts, Matthew brings more than 20 years of invaluable newsroom experience and a deep Asia expertise. Those qualities and his incredible track record at RFA make him the right person to help us accomplish even more than we have to date.” “It’s a tremendous privilege to step into this exciting role, which offers a unique opportunity to take RFA’s reporting to a new level,” Pennington said. “I look forward to helping RFA meet this crucial moment in history and be best equipped for the challenges ahead.” Additionally, Paul Eckert, who served as Director of English News, will now be the English Editor-at-Large where he will oversee RFA’s English commentary section. Nadia Tsao, Managing Editor of East Asia, will lead the fact checking unit, which will map Chinese media influence worldwide and counter falsehoods in real time. With its expansion underway, RFA is in the process of recruiting for new positions within its language services and global Mandarin brand [ https://www.wainao.me/ | 歪脑 | WHYNOT ] , and to enhance its digital storytelling presentation, as well as filling Pennington’s and Eckert’s previous roles. Matthew Pennington joined RFA in December 2018, after a 19-year career with The Associated Press as a reporter and editor. He began his career in Southeast Asia as a U.N. volunteer in Laos, raising awareness about the problem of unexploded ordnance left over from the Vietnam War. He worked as a correspondent for Agence France-Presse and then the AP, covering Thailand, Burma, Laos and Cambodia, and spent five years based in Islamabad, where he became AP bureau chief for Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was born and educated in England and holds a BA in Ancient History from the University of Bristol and an MA in Political Philosophy from the University of York. # # # Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the United States Agency for Global Media.

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Engnews June 2022