Irrawaddy-Jan 11
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army has released a video of a junta brigadier general it arrested in which he urges regime boss Min Aung Hlaing, his deputy and other junta officials to stop committing war crimes. Brigadier General Min Min Tun – who has been a prisoner of war since Dec. 16 – says in the video that the Myanmar military’s war crimes include brutally arresting, imprisoning and killing civilians as well as airstrikes and shelling of civilian targets. “I would like to say to the leaders of the Myanmar military, which commits various war crimes, including Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and [his] deputy commander, the chief of defense services, to stop what is being done now,” Min Min Tun, 48, says in the video released yesterday. The prisoner of war also urges soldiers from the junta’s military to defect. They should cooperate with the people of Myanmar instead of waging war against them, he says in the video. Min Min Tun and other officers were arrested in northern Shan State’s Namhsan Township while fleeing a camp where the 101 Infantry Division – which was under his command – was based. The TNLA stormed the camp on Dec. 16 as part of Operation 1027, which it launched in northern Shan State with two other ethnic armies – the Arakan Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army on Oct. 27. Together, they are known as the Brotherhood Alliance. Min Min Tun became the highest-ranking military officer to be arrested by the alliance since the onset of the operation. In the video, he also apologizes to ethnic Ta’ang people hit by junta airstrikes and shelling, saying he bore some responsibility for this. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/captured-myanmar-brigadier-general-urges-junta-boss-to-stop-committing-war-crimes.html
