BURMA: Court issues landmark ruling on death in police custody — Asian Human Rights Commission

BURMA: Court issues landmark ruling on death in police custody — Asian Human Rights Commission

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In a landmark ruling, a court in Burma has rejected the police version of events that led to the death of a man in their custody, and has opened the door to a charge of murder to be brought against the officers involved. 

In its findings of 9 November 2012, a copy of which the Asian Human Rights Commission has obtained, the Mayangone Township Court ruled in the case of the deceased Myo Myint Swe that the death was unlikely to have been natural. Despite attempts by the police of the Bayinnaung Police Station to cover up the torture and murder of Myo Myint Swe, whom they had arrested over the death of a young woman, Judge Daw Aye Mya Theingi found that even though the investigating doctor had been equivocal about whether or not extensive external injuries caused by torture had resulted in the death, on the basis of the testimonies, written records and photographs submitted to the court, it was "difficult to conclude that the death was natural". 

The ruling was issued to conclude a post-mortem inquest under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and therefore criminal charges do not automatically ensue against any persons responsible for Myo Myint Swe's death. However, the inference of the court that the death was unlikely to have been natural logically leads to the conclusion that someone was responsible for the death. And, as the nature of the injuries described in the courtroom testimonies, and recorded on the post-mortem inquiry findings, are such that they could not have been sustained by accident, the conclusion is necessarily that the police killed Myo Myint Swe. Further details of the original case are contained in the urgent appeal that the AHRC issued on the case in September: AHRC-UAC-176-2012.

Here we find ourselves in new territory. With the changing political environment in Burma, the case has the potential to be explosive. Very rarely have police officers been held to account for their crimes, and least of all, those committed on persons in custody. Against the backdrop of demands for accountability and the rule of law in Burma, the ruling of the Mayangone Township Court stands out as a major step into a new era juridically, as well as politically. Already the case has attracted a considerable amount of attention in the local print media, and with the family firmly demanding justice and refusing the attempts of police to silence them through payment or other methods, it is only likely to gain more attention in the coming period. 

The case is attracting attention, of course, not only because of the specific circumstances relating to this one victim but because of the prospects that new enquiries might ensue into many other cases of death in custody documented in recent times. These include the case of Nan Woh Phan, on which the AHRC has written previously (AHRC-PRL-046-2012), who in March 2012 fell from the fifth floor of the Bureau of Special Investigation headquarters during interrogation over her Japanese partner's alleged illegal business transactions. After holding press conferences in which he alleged that the BSI had murdered Woh Phan, Namase Motohiko was himself taken into custody where he has since been held without bail. An inquiry disciplined a number of officials for negligence over the death and the matter has been closed. The whole thing smells something rotten, and it is only a matter of time before inquiries into the case must be reopened. In the meantime, the AHRC has called for the release on bail of Mr Namase. 
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