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Extra-Judicial Killing of Burmese N



Subject: Extra-Judicial Killing of Burmese National in Thailand

        Thai Action Committee for Democoracy in Thailand (TACDB)

                        URGENT PRESS RELEASE!

Extrajudicial Killing of Burmese National by Thai Authorities in Mahachai,
Sumut Sakhon Province, Thailand.

Bangkok, 26th June, 1997.

On the evening of the 17th June, 1997, 22 year old Win Htwe, a Burmese
National from Karen State, was hiding from police in bushes close to the
main river bank when he was arrested and then beaten with a stick around the
head and the shoulder areas by a Thai police officer. Eyewitnesses to the
event, both Thai and Burmese nationals, saw the police officer in question,
who was wearing a white T-shirt with the number 6 printer on the back in
large letters, pick up the Win Htwe's body, shake it, and then throw it down
into the bushes. The police officer then left the scene of the killing to
transport four Burmese nationals he had previously arrested in the area to
Tatckalaung Police Kiosk, where the accepted bribes from Burmese nationals
in return for not sending them into more long term detention at the local
police station. 

Win Htwe was beaten to death by a Thai police officer for being a Burmese in
Thailand. He had fled to Thailand from the civil war in Karen State and was
working as a registered seaman out of Mahachai port.

Win Htwe was in a group of Burmese men and women who were trying to escape
the arrest and harassment of the local authorities. Thai Police officers
routinely round up Burmese nationals, regardless of whether they possess
legal documentation for their stay in Thailand, to extort money from them.
Exploitation of Burmese nationals at the hands of Thai Authorities in
Mahachai in Sumut Sakhon province is rife and the situation is reaching a
crisis point. The presence of such abuse and exploitation is a major blemish
on Thailand's international image as a civil and democratic society. 

Khun Laddawan Tantivitayapitak, coordinator of the Bangkok-based
organization, Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB) stated
that "...the human rights and humanitarian issues raised by the presence of
so many Burmese nationals along our borders as refugees, as well as the
presence of the anti-SLORC pro-democracy movement and the many migrant
Burmese workers inside our borders should be one of the Kingdom's gravest
concerns at the moment.". 

She went on to say that "...Thai official treatment of Burmese nationals
within our borders and especially our governments position on Burma, is the
next biggest impediment to resolving the problems of the Burmese, after the
brutal military junta itself. The systematic abuse, torture, arbitrary
arrest and detention, summary deportation and forced repatriation of Burmese
nationals must cease in order for us to find a long-term, durable solution
to the problem".

For more information or further comment please contact Adisorn Kerdmongkol
(Thai) or Khin Pyu Win (English) on (+662) 216 4463 or email
<carol@xxxxxxxxxx>. Photograph available. 
******************************************************
Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB),
328 Phayathai Road,
Rajthevee,
Bangkok 10400,
THAILAND.

tel/fax:  (+662) 216 4463
email:	  carol@xxxxxxxxxx
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