By Kantarawaddy Times
The military regime has sentenced 18 people to three years in prison after holding the villagers from Shwe Pyi Aye for a year and two months.
According to an unnamed source from the Progressive Karenni People Force (PKPF), they were abducted by the military from their village in Pekon Township in southern Shan State and used as human shields as the column moved through the region. A military court at Taung Lay Lone Prison in Taunggyi District has convicted them late last year of Article 52 (a), Burma’s counterinsurgency law.
PKPF is a civil rights group that collects data about the war in Karenni and southern Shan states.
The military abducted 20 villagers from Shwe Pyi Aye to use all as human shields. Family members of some of the victims told Kantarawaddy Times that Maung Yo, 67, and Soe Tint, 49, died in custody.
The others are said to be in good health, according to the PKPF source. Many of those abducted between 19 and 20 October 2021 were elderly citizens who were unable to escape the invading regime forces when clashes broke out with resistance fighters in the township.
