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BIRMANIER/ 'at Kyemon' paper two ki



Subject: BIRMANIER/ 'at Kyemon' paper two killed, seven detained for calling leading official a "crook" 

Reporteurs Sans Frontieres
Asia Desk
to the attention of Manuel J.

Manuel, please start immediately an inquery into these killings and
current detentions in Burma. For any questions please do not hesitate to
contact Burma groups, ds
> 
> BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
> October 09, 1999, Saturday
> 
> Two killed, seven detained for calling leading official a "crook"
> 
> Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1245 gmt 7 Oct 99
> 
> Text of report by Burmese opposition radio on 7th October
> 
> According to a report received by the Democratic Voice of Burma, 27
> employees from the
> 'Kyemon' newspaper were interrogated for describing Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt as
> the world-famous crook.
> It was reported that two people died in the course of the interrogation.
> The 25th September issue of
> 'Kyemon'carried a picture and a report about Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt meeting the
> chairman of the Burma
> Council of Churches. Above the picture of Lt-Gen Khin was the caption: "The
> World Famous Crook" .
> 
> Soon after the release of the newspaper, military intelligence agents came
> and conducted interrogations,
> leading to a 'Kyemon'newspaper employee, U Hla Han dying on 27th September
> and another
> employee, U Tha Win, dying on 2nd October.
> 
> The bodies of the two were cremated immediately after their deaths and
> their family members were
> allowed to view the bodies for only a few minutes. According to some close
> relatives, they had bruises
> on their faces. The SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] authorities
> were reported to have
> given only 10,000 kyat [Burmese currency] for their funeral expenses. The
> military intelligence
> threatened the family members not to disclose the incident.
> 
> Due to much discontent among the 'Kyemon' staff members, 20 persons, who
> were detained, were
> released. However, seven are still being detained.
> 
> A political observer said that the SPDC generals were much embarrassed by
> the inadvertent errors in
> the SPDC newspapers which happened to reflect the truth. That is why they
> tortured those they
> believed to be responsible until they died. An editorial in the ' Myanmar
> Alin' newspaper in February
> claimed that the SPDC government is relentlessly working for opium
> cultivation and trade. During 1991,
> a caption describing Foreign Minister U Ohn Gyaw delivering an address at a
> UN conference was put
> next to the picture of the prime minister of the National Coalition
> Government of the Union of Burma,
> Dr Sein Win, and his ministers attending a meeting.
> 
> In early 1990, a caption, "Cows Show" , was put under a picture of SPDC
> generals seated in a row.
> Soon after the SPDC seized power, a cartoon referring to the SPDC appeared
> in the 'Working
> People's Daily' with the caption, "Defect to Government" .
>