A monitoring group in Myanmar has appealed for international action, expressing concern over the torture and murder of anti-coup protesters in the Southeast Asian nation after the military broadcast images of six young detainees bearing severe signs of abuse.
In the pictures broadcast on military-owned MRTV on Sunday evening, the faces of four men and two women appeared bloodied and bruised. One of the women had a swollen jaw and what appeared to be a black eye.
“This junta uses torture as its policy,” the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said in a tweet.
“If the international community does not act, torture and to death, will clearly continue.”
Democracy has once again been trampled upon in Myanmar. The country’s future appears uncertain because of the military takeover and arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto head of Myanmar’s elected government and leader of the National League of Democracy (NLD). The party had won a landslide majority in the election held in November 2020. Soon after the coup in the early hours of February 1, a year-long state of emergency was declared. This is actually not a sudden development whispers about the possibility of the military toppling Myanmar’s democratically elected government were floating for the past few days.