Two men were arrested and beaten by members of the Burma Army in eastern Shan State’s Mong Ping Township last week, after being accused of having ties to the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS). 

Soldiers from Infantry Battalion 278 arrested 54-year-old Sai Santa, the headman of Lun Kyauk village in Mong Bu Luang village tract, and 40-year-old Sai Aung Zayya at home at 6:00 p.m. on September 12. 

According to Sai Santa, his arrest occurred after the Tatmadaw troops discovered a former RCSS camp in the jungle near Lun Kyauk. 

“They accused us of having failed to report to them about the RCSS camp,” he explained. “They brought us to the former camp. Then they asked us, ‘why didn’t you know about this camp and why didn’t you see this?’ Then a soldier kicked me. I fell down onto the ground. When I tried to get up, then the soldier kicked me again. He beat me on my head. He stabbed my shoulder with his knife. I got dizzy.”

The beating and interrogation went on for two hours, Sai Santa told SHAN. He went for medical treatment in the city of Kengtung on September 15 after his injuries failed to heal and he described “feeling pain on [his] whole body.”

Lt-Col Sai Mueng, who is in charge of the RCSS liaison office in Kengtung, condemned the military violence against the villagers, and confirmed that the camp once belonged to his organization. 

“The army should not act like this,” he said, adding that it is not typical for RCSS soldiers to enter a nearby village, and that permission must be asked first. 

Since the RCSS has signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the government and military, they should no longer be viewed as an organization to be feared or investigated, but villagers are frequently accused of liaising with the group. 

The Burma Army arrested villager Nandia, from the community of Nam Tat in Mong Pin Township on July 28. He was accused of being connected to the RCSS and was transferred to the police station after being detained for 10 days in an army camp. He is now facing drug charges. 

SHAN reached out to the Tatmadaw’s True News Information Team for comment on the pattern of arrests, but no one answered the calls.