Burma soldiers gang-rape women in Kachin Church

48-YEAR-OLD GRANDMOTHER KWAT SAYS GANG-RAPED AND HELD FOR THREE DAY BY SOLDIERS IN A CHURCH NEAR PANGWA.

A group of Burma army soldiers tortured and then gang-raped a 48-year-old Kachin woman for three days in her village church northwest of Pang Wa (Pangwa) beginning May 1, according to the Kachin Women's Association of Thailand (KWAT) citing interviews with the victim and a local villager who was forced to watch the assault.
The incident occurred at Luk Pi (Lupi) village in Chipwi township an area that has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks between the Burma army and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).  The victim was found in a church where she had taken shelter after most of her neighbors fled.

According to KWAT a group of at least 10 soldiers beat the victim with “rifle butts, stabbed her with knives, stripped her naked and gang-raped her over a period of three days in the church”. The troops involved are said to be from Light Infantry Battalion 347 and Infantry Battalion 118.

KWAT says that Yu Ta Gwi, a 59 year old man who also was tied up and detained by soldiers witnessed the soldiers abusing the victim.  When the troops left the church on May 4th, local villagers found Yu Ta Gwi and the rape victim semi-conscious in the compound. Both Yu Ta Gwi and the unnamed women were then taken to a local hospital.

The 48-year-old grandmother was left extremely traumatized by the incident and remains in an extremely fragile condition, according to KWAT.

It is very unlikely that any of the soldiers involved in the rape will even be formerly investigated for their actions. Burma's newly created national human rights commission has said that it will not probe allegations against the army or other incidents that are reported to have happened in conflict areas.

Earlier this year the husband of Sumlut Roi Ja, a Kachin villager last seen in October being detained by Burmese troops near Mai Ja Yang, lost his legal bid to have the Burmese legal system force the army to disclose the fate of his wife.  Instead the Naypyidaw supreme court tossed out the case ending all legal avenues for her family.

In a press release issued last week highlighting the recent rape case, a KWAT spokesperson suggested that the Burmese legal system's refusal to probe the Sumlut Roi Ja abduction case gave the army a green light to continue to target ethnic women. “The message from the Naypyidaw Supreme Court is clear: the Burmese military can rape and kill ethnic women with impunity,” said KWAT director Moon Nay Li.