Three Chinese nationals were sentenced to death and executed last week by the authorities in the Wa Self-Administered Region, run the by United Wa State Army (UWSA).

A UWSA official said that the individuals had robbed a gold shop and killed the owner in Namtip Township on May 3.

“Wa authorities arrested two criminals on May 3 and the other remaining criminal on May 5,” Nyi Rang, a UWSA deputy liaison officer in Lashio, wrote on his Facebook page. “After an investigation, the three criminals were sentenced to death on May 14.”

It is unclear what the investigation involved, or how it was known that the men had committed the crime of which they were accused. They had reportedly come to the Wa region looking for work.  

A Shan woman who lives in the Wa Self-Administered Region said that the accused were paraded around the town before being shot dead on a hill where executions are carried out.

“Here in the Wa region, if a person commits a crime, the person will be shown around the town before their sentence [is carried out]. Then the person is sentenced. Whoever commits a crime here, the person will be charged with the laws of Wa State. In this way, the three criminals were shown around the town, then they were shot dead,” the woman explained.