ICC Note:
Two priests which disappeared into military custody are being charged with liaising with illegal organizations. The two are Baptist priests from the Kachin ethnic group, a minority group in Myanmar that is predominantly Christian. The Kachin have suffered decades of persecution at the hands of a staunchly Buddhist government. In this case, the two priests had helped journalists who had traveled to the area to report on the government bombing of Christian churches. After the reports were released the priests were summoned to a military base. They have not been seen since, and many are worried that they are being subjected to torture and abuse. Many cases have been recorded of torture and even execution of Kachin at the hands of the military.
1/26/2017 Myanmar (Radio Free Asia) – Police in Muse township in Myanmar’s northern Shan state have opened a case against two Kachin Christian leaders, charging them with illegal association under a controversial colonial-era act, a local police official said on Wednesday.
The military handed over Dumdaw Nawng Lat, a 65-year-old pastor with the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), and Langjaw Gam Seng, a 35-year-old KBC youth leader, to police on Tuesday after detaining the two since Dec. 24.
Police are charging them under a two-part section of the 1908 Unlawful Association Act for providing support to the rebel Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which is engaged in hostilities with the government’s armed forces as part of a four-militia group known as the Northern Alliance in northern Shan and Kachin states.
The act has been used to detain regional politicians and others who allegedly have links to ethnic armed groups fighting the government army in Kachin state.
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