Daw Kyawt May the Arakan Alin Tagar Women Activists Group Chairperson attended both trials.

She said that Kyaw Kyaw Moe, also known as Aung Myint, was sentenced to 15 years for raping a homeless five-year old girl in Satyonesu ward, Sittwe in November 2015 after he lied to her and said he would buy her a balloon.

Kyaw Kyaw Moe was soldier number: Ta/386019 in Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 378 based in Mrauk-U in Arakan State. He had deserted the army in 2012 and since then had been living in the same neighbourhood as the victim.

Daw Kyawt May said that he was charged under sections 376, 377 and 511 (rape, unnatural offence, and attempt to commit an offence) in the civilian Sittwe District Court and sentenced to 10 years. He was also sentenced to an extra five years imprisonment by a military court martial.

In a separate case the same day Nay Win Aung, also known as U Ne Win, was convicted of raping an eight-year-old girl suffering from malnutrition and chronic illness in her home in Nay Win Aung in Danyati Ward, Sittwe in September 2015.

The victim received medical treatment at the Yankine Children’s Hospital in Rangoon, but she died there a month later.

Nay Win Aung, who was a Burma Army soldier who had gone absent without leave from LIB 354, was sentenced to 11 years in prison

The Sittwe District Court convicted him under sections 376, 377 and 511 and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment and a military court-martial convicted him of desertion and sentenced him to one further year in prison.

Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI