A/HRC/39/CRP.2 day one of my friends was very sick with stomach problems and could not walk. One of the soldiers kicked him in the stomach making it worse. We carried him but before reaching the village my friend died. The soldiers said we were responsible for his death and would be placed in jail and tortured because we had killed him. We managed to escape but afterwards Tatmadaw soldiers came to my house to look for me and said they had opened a case against me for the death of my friend. 436 240. The Mission was able to collect only limited information on conditions in official places of detention, but credible reports indicate that individuals detained there were also held in inhuman conditions, including in inadequate accommodation in overcrowded cells with an insufficient number of beds. 437 The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission has acknowledged that detainees are kept in overcrowded conditions in several detention facilities including in Lashio and Myitkyina prisons. 438 Torture, ill-treatment, sexual violence, and killings in unofficial places of detention 241. Detained individuals were frequently subjected to torture and ill-treatment while in unofficial places of detention, in particular where the individual was being questioned on suspected links to EAOs,439 or for either walking or working too slowly during forced labour.440 Victims were also subjected to racist, ethnic or dehumanizing insults.441 One victim from a village in Sumprabum Township, Kachin State, described how 16 villagers were arrested, detained and questioned during a period of fighting between the KIA and the Tatmadaw in 2015: In December 2015, there was fighting between the KIA and the Tatmadaw. Soldiers entered my village and six villagers were arrested including two village administrators. Soldiers also arrested 10 people from another village called Hka Garan including two village administrators and took us all to a military base. The soldiers interrogated us; they threatened to kill us if we didn’t answer properly and accused us of being KIA soldiers. We told them that we are not soldiers and have nothing to do with the KIA, we are just villagers but they said we had to be KIA soldiers and hit us with the backs of their guns and insulted us. Every day for a week, we received the same questions and every day we gave the same answers. 442 242. The Mission also verified that victims were killed in detention,443 and subjected to sexual violence while in detention.444 End of unofficial detention 243. In some cases individuals detained for forced labour or because of suspected links to armed groups were released by the Tatmadaw445 including following an intervention by village administrators or upon payment of a sum of money. 446 However, victims also seized opportunities to escape.447 For example, one female victim from Waingmaw Township, Kachin State, reported how, after being detained for several months on a military base in 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 PI-077. PI-038, PI-109. Republic of the Union of Myanmar - Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, e.g. “Statement regarding visit to Mandalay, Naung Cho, Thi Paw and Lashio Township Prisons and Work Stations Statement No. (8/2015)” and “Statement by the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission on its visit to the Kachin State (13 December 2011)”, available at http://www.mnhrc.org.mm/en/statements2/. DI-066, DI-067, PI-004, PI-054, PI-059, PI-074, PI-086. See this chapter, section A.3: Torture and other ill-treatment. See this chapter, section A.6: Forced labour. DI-066, PI-004, PI-059. DI-067. See this chapter, section A.2: Unlawful killings. PI-006, PI-067, PI-068. See this chapter, section A.4: Sexual and gender-based violence. PI-044, PI-053, PI-058, PI-081, SI-004. PI-035, PI-075, PI-081. PI-006, PI-029, PI-033, PI-066, PI-077, PI-079, PI-084, PI-085. 61