A/HRC/39/CRP.2 2012, she managed to escape one night, when the soldiers were drunk, and run away through the forest.448 244. The Mission received consistent reports of Tatmadaw soldiers shooting at individuals fleeing detention.449 Two victims further reported being left behind to die in the forest by Tatmadaw soldiers because they were unable to walk. 450 245. In some cases, those initially held in unofficial places of detention were subsequently transferred to official places of detention.451 Enforced disappearance 246. The Mission received credible accounts of disappearances, many amounting to enforced disappearances carried out by the Tatmadaw and SaYaPa. 452 In some cases, individuals who were arrested and disappeared were later confirmed to have been in the custody of the Tatmadaw or SaYaPa.453 Active efforts were made to conceal the fate, or whereabouts, of these individuals. 247. For example, Dumdaw Nawng Lat, President of the Kachin Baptist Church in Monekoe, Muse Township, Shan State, and his nephew and assistant pastor Langjaw Gam Seng, were called to a military base on 24 December 2016 and then disappeared.454 In early December 2016, the pastors had shown journalists around their damaged church, which they alleged had been hit by a Tatmadaw airstrike. News articles featuring pictures of the church had been released in the weeks prior to their disappearance, with one article explicitly alleging Tatmadaw responsibility, published on 23 December 2016.455 A missing person’s report was filed with police on 4 January 2017. On 10 January 2017, Presidential Spokesperson Zaw Htay reportedly denied that they were detained by the military and suggested they may have been taken by the KIA.456 On 19 January 2017, the Commander-inChief, Senior-General Min Aung Laing, confirmed in a Facebook post that the men were detained by the military.457 It was later confirmed that they had been detained in a military camp, before being transferred to Muse police station on 24 January 2017, a month after they had first been detained. During their detention they were coerced to sign confessions.458 248. The Mission received credible examples of individuals who were searching for disappeared victims being given conflicting information on their fate by the authorities. 459 For instance, an individual searching for Laphai Gam, a villager from Muse Township who disappeared in December 2016, was reportedly told by the police that he had been arrested by the Tatmadaw and would be released in a few days. When he did not appear a few days later, the individual went to a Tatmadaw base and was told by a soldier that the victim had been seen talking to the KIA and that the KIA may be responsible. Later, they heard through an intermediary that a Tatmadaw commander had indicated that the victim had been detained and then released. The whereabouts of the victim remains unknown to date. 460 249. Another case involves Sumlut Roi Ja, who was reportedly arrested by the Tatmadaw on 28 October 2011 from a field and detained in a military camp near Hkai Ban village, Moemauk Township, Kachin State. She was reportedly arrested alongside two other individuals who managed to escape. She was later seen in the military camp, and an Army 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 62 PI-068. DI-067, PI-026, PI-029, PI-084. See this chapter, section A.2: Unlawful killings. PI-021, PI-080. Ibid. DI-059, K-138, K-139, PI-037, PI-038, PI-052, PI-069, PI-106, V-056, V-057, V-121, V-122. PI-037, PI-038, PI-052. PI-037, PI-038, V-057. L. Weng, “Bishop Says Mong Ko Church Damaged by Government Air Strikes” (The Irrawaddy, 23 December 2016). J. Zaw, “Concern mounts for two missing Baptists in Shan State” (UCA news, 10 January 2017). Post on file with the Mission. PI-037, PI-038, V-058. See also this chapter, section C.3: Lack of recourse. DI-059, K-138, K-139, V-056. K-149, V-056.