A License to Torture ? ill-treatments by regime troops. Since the emergence of the Spring Revolution in the aftermath of the 2021 coup attempt, military offensives and persecutions have expanded to the central Dry-zone of Myanmar – that covers Magway Region, Mandalay Region and Sagaing Region –where the majority Burman (Bamar) people have been unprecedentedly experiencing systematic and widespread persecutions of the Myanmar military since the 2021 coup attempt. As one of the biggest leaks of the Myanmar military’s systematic and widespread torture and murders, Radio Free Asia received a cell phone containing a video file and 144 photos in which the junta soldiers were found admitting and recalling how they murdered people during their raids on village in Sagaing Region.54 The massacre broke out in Mon Taing Pin village, Ye-U township, Sagaing Region in May 2022. In the massacre, the junta forces murder more than 30 people before burning their dead bodies together with some homes within the village. According to some villagers under anonymity, the junta forces also tortured many residents.55 The Myanmar military forces often use civilians as human shields in clashes with the armed resistance group. In October 2021, the military’s troops used 19 abducted villagers who were blindfolded and had their hands tied as human shield in southern Shan State’s Pekon township, a part of Karenni area in the Shan-Karenni borderline, according to Karenni Human Rights Group.56 Women are subjected to sexual abuse and sexual violence by the junta forces. A group of about 150 Myanmar military’s 77th Light Infantry Division raided Myout Nohn village, Yinmabin township in Sagaing Region on March 3, 2023, at 3 pm. During the raid, the forces burned about 130 civilian homes, abducted villagers and gangraped and murdered a 25-year-old woman in the premise of a Buddhist monastery.57 The junta troops also utilized the religious buildings as the interrogation centers, detention centers and even killing fields in the armed resistance active areas. In Myin Mu township, Sagaing Region, a column of junta’s troops with excessive forces stormed into Kan Phyar village, taking villagers to a Buddhist monastery near Myat Saw Nyi Naung pagoda. The junta troops forced the villagers to run away while they made a countdown to 5, then shot the running villager in the monastery.58 54 “I had to cut off the head, bro”, RFA, https://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/myanmar-soldier-atrocities/index.html, accessed (June 10, 2023) 55 “They are going to kill us”, RFA, June 30, 2022 https://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/survivor-reconstructs-myanmar-atrocities/index.html, (accessed June 10, 2023) 56 Myanmar’s military accused of using human shield s in Kayah state, RFA, November 3, 202, https://www.rfa. org/english/news/myanmar/shields-11032021195114.html#:~:text=Government%20troops%20in%20Myanmar%20are,support%20for%20the%20military’s%20opponents (accessed June 10, 2023) 57 EQMM interview with data collectors. 58 “မြင်းမူမြို့နယ် ကံဖျားရွာခံ ၁၁ ဦး သတ်ဖြတ်ခံရ”, RFA, June 8, 2022, https://www.rfa.org/burmese/news/11-villagerskilled-by-junta-forces-in-myinmu-06082022080241.html (accessed June 10, 2023) Equality Myanmar 33