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Human rights defenders / Urgent Interventions / Myanmar (ex-Burma) / 2016 / December

Myanmar (ex-Burma): Murder of journalist and land rights defender Soe Moe Tun

MMR 002 / 1216 / OBS 109

Murder

Burma

December 16, 2016

 

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Burma.

 

Description of the situation:

 

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the murder of Mr. Soe Moe Tun, a journalist with the Eleven Media Group, a company that own several news outlets in Burma, including the Daily Eleven newspaper. Mr. Soe Moe Tun was known for his investigative work on illegal logging and timber smuggling in several areas of Sagaing Region, including Monywa and Sagaing Townships.

 

According to the information received, on the morning of December 13, 2016, the body of Mr. Soe Moe Tun was found on the side of Pyidaungsu Road near the Monywa golf course in Monywa, Sagaing Division. Bruises, wounds on his head, and an apparently fractured skull led police to believe Mr. Soe Moe Tun was beaten to death with a blunt object.

 

Shortly before his death, on December 7, 2016, Mr. Soe Moe Tun had written a Facebook post that included a list of individuals who were allegedly tied to the illegal timber trade in Sagaing Region.

 

On December 13, 2016, police in Monywa opened a murder investigation in connection with Mr. Soe Moe Tun’s death. Preliminary evidence gathered by the police appears to show that the killing was intentional and premeditated, and may have involved at least two people. At the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, no arrests had been made in connection with Mr. Soe Moe Tun’s murder.

 

The Observatory expresses his deepest concern over the unsafe environment for human rights defenders in Burma. The Observatory recalls that Mr. Soe Moe Tun’s death is the second killing of individuals working on land and natural resources in the country within a month, following the murder of Karen woman human rights defender Ms. Chit Pandaing, better known as “Eh Paw Tel”[1].

 

The Observatory urges the Burmese authorities to conduct a swift, thorough, impartial, and transparent investigation into the death of Mr. Soe Moe Tun.

 

It also calls on the authorities to adopt effective measures to ensure the protection of human rights defenders, including land and environmental rights defenders, in Burma.

 

Actions requested:

 

Please write to the authorities of Burma asking them to:

 

i. Carry out an immediate, thorough, impartial, and transparent investigation into the murder of Mr. Soe Moe Tun in order to identify all those responsible, bring them before an independent tribunal, and sanction them as provided by the law;

 

ii. Guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical and psychological integrity of all human rights defenders in Burma;

 

iii. Comply with all the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular with its Articles 1 and 12.2;

 

iv. Guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

 

Addresses:

 

• U Htin Kyaw, President; Fax: +95 1 652 624

• Lt Gen Kyaw Swe, Minister for Home Affairs; Fax: +95 67 412 439; Email: mohamyanmar@gmail.com

• Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fax: +95 67 412396

• U Win Mra, Chairman of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission; Email: chmyanmarnhrc@gmail.com

• U Tun Tun Oo, Union Attorney General; Email: ago.h.o@mptmail.net.mm

• Maj Gen Zaw Win, Director General, Myanmar Police Force, Ministry of Home Affairs, Fax: +95 67 412006; Email: mpfserver@gmail.com

• HE Mr. Htin Lynn, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Fax: +41 22 732 89 19, +41 22 732 73 77, Email: mission@myanmargeneva.org

• Embassy of Myanmar in Brussels, Belgium, Fax: +32 2 705 50 48, Email: mebrussels@skynet.be

 

Please also write to the diplomatic representations of Burma in your respective countries.

 

***

Paris-Geneva, December 16, 2016

 

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

 

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and OMCT. The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.



[1] See Observatory Urgent Appeal MMR 001/1216/OBS 108, published on December 15, 2016.

Properties

Date: December 16, 2016
Activity: Human Rights Defenders
Type: Urgent Interventions
Country: Myanmar (ex-Burma)
Subjects: Human Rights Defenders, Summary executions, extrajudicial killings

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