The family of a Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldier who was murdered with his wife are demanding that the KIA’s political arm, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), convict three suspects they arrested by the end of the month.
“The victims must have justice and the KIO/KIA has full responsibility to solve this case,” said a man helping the victim’s family, who wished to remain anonymous. He said the victims have two children and the armed group must take care of them after their parents were brutally taken away from them. The murder case in the area of KIA Battalion 41 in Hopin town in Mohnyin Township tarnishes the image of the KIO, the man added.
U Kyaw Tun Oo (40) has reportedly admitted to both the murder and rape and the KIO have arrested him along with two other men.
Friends and family members of the victims say that around midnight on 11 June, the three men bashed the soldier on the back of the head with an axe until he died in a hut used as a makeshift medical clinic. After raping the soldier’s wife, they killed her by stabbing her in the chest and stomach with a knife.
“If the case isn’t finished this month, unnecessary things may happen. We don’t want another incident, so we’re asking the KIO/KIA to solve the case within two weeks,” the man told KNG last week.
The KIO has already promised the victim’s family to solve the case as soon as possible.
