Myanmar’s military intensifying killing and torture of civilians, UN says

UN report finds 5,350 civilians had been killed by the military since the coup in February 2021.

Myanmar’s military government has ramped up killings and arrests in an apparent bid to silence opponents with tens of thousands of people arrested since a 2021 coup, a United Nations report finds.

The military seized power in February that year, deposing the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggering nationwide street protests that it violently crushed.

The protest movement has since turned into a widening armed rebellion, and fighting has flared on multiple fronts, prompting authorities to introduce conscription in February.

On Tuesday, a report issued by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, said 5,350 civilians had been killed by the military since the coup. The report was based partly on remote interviews with hundreds of victims and witnesses because investigators are denied access.

Of those deaths, 2,414 people died in the latest reporting period from April 2023 to June 2024, an increase of 50 percent compared with the previous reporting period. Hundreds were killed in air and artillery attacks.