A/HRC/39/CRP.2 victim, the soldier responsible was slapped 10 times and compensation of 200,000 Kyat provided to a male family member of the victim. 891 402. Due to the lack of cooperation from the Government of Myanmar, the Mission did not have access to official information on prosecutions against members of the Tatmadaw for violations. However, the Mission is aware that in a small number of cases, members of the Tatmadaw have been prosecuted for violations including killings and sexual violence. For example, in relation to the killing of three IDPs in Mansi Township, Kachin State in May 2017, a military tribunal sentenced six Tatmadaw soldiers to 10 years’ imprisonment in January 2018.892 The Mission is also aware of a case of a child who was raped in Kachin State where a soldier was sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labour. 893 However, investigations and prosecutions appear to be limited to a small number of often high-profile cases. The default approach is to deny Tatmadaw responsibility, dismiss the complainant, and in some cases threatening prosecution against anyone alleging Tatmadaw involvement in the incident, and only when these approaches fail to deflect attention, to undertake some form of investigation which generally does not comply with international investigative standards.894 403. For example, the Tatmadaw has threatened legal action in relation to the killings of the volunteer teachers named Maran Lu Ra and Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin in Shan State on 19 January 2015, and there were serious concerns about the investigation methods. 895 A similar pattern can be seen in incidents of arrest, for example in the case of Dumdaw Nawng Lat and Langjaw Gam Seng in Monekoe, Muse Township, Shan State, where the Presidential spokesperson denied on 10 January 2017 they were held by the Tatmadaw, but it later transpired that they had in fact been detained in a military base from 24 December 2016. 896 Credible information received on the killing of seven individuals in Mong Yaw, Shan State in June 2016 indicates that following an incident where witnesses saw two individuals being shot by the Tatmadaw after they ignored an order to stop at a checkpoint, and five other individuals being detained near their farm land and not returning, the military ordered villagers not to leave their village for three days. 897 When villagers were able to go back to their farms, the bodies of the seven individuals were found in two sites. On 2 July 2016, the Myawaddy military-owned newspaper, stated that “rumours on social media that Tatmadaw had killed seven civilians, which were not true,” continuing that two of the individuals were TNLA members and the other five bodies had been found by troops during “area clearance.”898 However, later a Tatmadaw senior general reportedly admitted publically that five villagers were killed by the Tatmadaw during an interrogation,899 and in September 2016, seven soldiers were reportedly sentenced to five years in prison with hard labour for the killings.900 It does not appear further investigations have been conducted into the two individuals allegedly killed at the checkpoint. 404. The Mission also received credible information indicating that even when cases are brought before authorities, the process is often flawed. For example, a lawyer who has taken up several cases against the Tatmadaw identified a number of issues related to the functioning of courts in their experience: When cases are tried by a military court, the charges are often not what is expected because the military code is different. For example, in a case of sexual violence, there is no such charge, so a perpetrator was sentenced instead for intoxication during 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 900 98 PI-110. A/HRC/37/70, para. 36. PI-037. See chapter X: Impunity and accountability. See this chapter, section A.4: Sexual and gender-based violence. See this chapter, section A.5: Arbitrary deprivation of liberty and enforced disappearance. K-076.21. Article on file with the Mission. W. Lone, “In rare move, Myanmar military admits soldiers killed five villagers” (Reuters, 20 July 2016). Frontier Myanmar, “Tatmadaw soldiers jailed for killing Mong Yaw villagers” (16 September 2016).