The wife of a slain Myanmar journalist has vowed to fight for justice after a military court controversially acquitted two soldiers accused of killing him.
Freelance journalist Aung Kyaw Naing, who was also known as Par Gyi, was arrested in October 2014 while covering clashes between the military and Karen rebels in southeastern Myanmar’s Mon state. He later died in military custody.
On May 8, the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MHRC) released a statement noting that a military court had acquitted two soldiers of his death.
This comes despite the fact there is an ongoing trial in a civilian court in Mon state’s Kyaikmayaw township.
Aung Kyaw Naing’s wife, Ma Thandar, told ucanews.com on Tuesday that she only heard of the military court’s acquittal of the two soldiers after reading the statement on the MHRC website.
“I won’t give up my hopes for justice and will continue to fight for it within legal boundaries, even though I am facing great hurdles,” Ma Thandar said in an interview.
After Aung Kyaw Naing’s death last year, the Ministry of Defence said the journalist had been shot and killed after he allegedly tried to seize a weapon from a soldier and attempted to escape.
A military statement at the time also alleged that Aung Kyaw Naing was not a journalist, but a member of the Klohtoobaw Karen Organization, the political wing of the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army.
While the MHRC recommended that the case be heard in a civilian court, the military insisted on handling the case in a military court, arguing that the journalist had died during a conflict.
Robert San Aung, a prominent human rights lawyer representing Ma Thandar, said the military court’s decision still needed to be approved by the military’s commander-in-chief.
“It is like an uphill battle but we will try as much as we can to fight for justice and truth,” he said.
The MHRC’s chairman, Sit Myint, was quoted by Radio Free Asia as saying that although the commission had recommended the murder trial be held in a civilian court, the military was acting within its rights to try him in a military court.
“The military court did that case within the power and rights it has,” Sit Myint was quoted as saying. “We [the commission] can’t do anything more than what we have done. I don’t know what the lawmakers will do for the next step.”
For Aung Kyaw Naing’s widow, however, the case raises doubts about the military’s willingness to mete out justice in Myanmar.
“We want the military to be a dignified and professional institution, but the way they acted in this case may tarnish their image,” Ma Thandar said.
Hearings in the civilian court case are expected to resume on May 25.
Aung Kyaw Naing was a former member of the democracy movement and acted as a security guard for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during mass protests in 1988.
He was gunned down as he tried to flee detention in the town of Kyaikmaraw in Mon state on October 4, according to a military statement.
The case was raised by US President Barack Obama during a visit to Myanmar last November.
It has added to fears over the erosion of media freedoms won since the country began emerging from outright military rule in 2011.
Aung Kyaw Naing's body was exhumed from a shallow grave near Kyaikmaraw in November after an outcry that prompted authorities to allow the human rights commission to investigate.
Their report detailed bullet wounds to the skull, chin, torso and legs, but said there was no witness testimony that he was tortured.
Additional reporting by AFP
