Myanmar coup: ousted MPs accuse military of human rights abuses

A group representing Myanmar’s ousted elected government has said it has gathered 180,000 pieces of evidence showing human rights abuses by the military, including hundreds of extrajudicial executions, torture and illegal detentions.

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The Committee for Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), which was set up in the aftermath of the coup to represent MPs from Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, said its legal representative would meet UN investigators to discuss the abuses on Wednesday.

According to the group, the junta has carried out more than 540 extrajudicial executions, while it has also received reports of at least 10 deaths of prisoners in custody.

Over recent days, the junta has stepped up its threats against public figures who have voiced support for the anti-coup protest movement, issuing wanted lists with the names of dozens of celebrities. The prominent comedian and satirist Maung Thura, known by the name Zarganar, was among those arrested on Tuesday.

Thousands of people have been detained since the coup, with most held by the military in unknown locations. Large numbers of people – from workers participating in anti-coup strikes, to journalists and social media influencers – are in hiding, fearing they will be taken in night-time raids.

According to local reports, security forces have even detained children. On Monday, the military, which has been searching for Jar Lay, an NLD official, instead arrested six of his relatives, including his four-year-old daughter and two-year-old nephew, the independent outlet Myanmar Now reported. The family was stopped at about 5.30am and taken to a military base and a police station for interrogation, before they were eventually released at 8pm.

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Protesters in Mandalay, northern Myanmar, on Wednesday.

“Even if they didn’t do anything to them, taking children to these kinds of environments full of uniforms, places where it is not appropriate for children … caused them psychological trauma,” Jar Lay told Myanmar Now.

Save the Children has previously warned the country is “no longer a safe place for children”. At least 43 children have been killed since the coup on 1 February.

The CRPH said in its statement on Wednesday that its legal representative would discuss how the group could work with the UN’s independent investigative mechanism, which collects evidence of serious crimes to prepare for possible legal cases in national, regional or international courts.

While the UN security council has strongly condemned violence against peaceful protesters in Myanmar, it has not imposed sanctions – a measure opposed by China and Russia.

In Yangon on Wednesday, some protesters, who accuse China of supporting the coup, set fire to the Chinese flag. A fire also reportedly broke out at a Chinese-owned factory in the city. Last month in Yangon, 32 factories with links to China were set alight.

Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the junta, said in a statement that the civil disobedience movement – through which large numbers of workers have gone on strike to paralyse the junta – was “an activity to destroy the country”.

“Although protests are staged in neighbouring countries and the international community, they do not destroy businesses,” he said.

The brutal crackdown by security forces, which has left hundreds dead since the 1 February coup, continued on Wednesday. At least 11 people were killed after security forces fired at protesters in the north-western town of Kale, according to local media reports, while two protesters were also killed in the town of Bago near Yangon.

Several small explosions were heard in Yangon, according to reports by Reuters, including at government buildings, a military hospital and a shopping mall. There were no casualties and no claims of responsibility.

Protesters have continued to take to the streets over recent months, despite deadly violence by the military. After cuts to broadband wireless internet and mobile data services, protesters have begun producing A4-sized news pamphlets each day to share news.

Indonesia’s foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, met the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, in Jakarta on Wednesday, where she said the two discussed how Britain and the international community could support a south-east Asian effort to resolve the crisis. Indonesia has led efforts to coordinate a regional plan, though other neighbouring countries have not condemned the coup.