The family and friends of Maran Lu Ra and Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin want the courts to launch an investigation into who raped and murdered the volunteer Kachin teachers seven years ago in northern Shan State.

“We still have not got justice for them until today. This makes me very depressed, but I will wait no matter how long it takes,” said Wadhkawng Lu Bu, the mother of Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin.

The teachers were volunteering for the Kachin Baptist Convention when they were raped and killed with multiple knife wounds by unidentified men in Kawng Hkar on 19 January 2015. The Burma Army Infantry Battalion 503 was present in the village in Muse Township on the same day as the murders and many soldiers are believed to have been involved in the attack on the two 20-year-old women.

The police in Lashio District refused the KBC Truth Finding Commission’s request to investigate the soldiers and the commander. “We will not stop until we get the truth,” Rev Dr Hkalam Samson told KNG. He explained that if anyone was willing to testify against the accused soldiers, the case could be brought to court.

“We believe that one day we will get the truth and justice for the two Kachin volunteer teachers,” said Moon Nelly, spokesperson for the Kachin Women’s Association of Thailand.

She said the military had killed many other people in Kachin State. Moon Nelly cited a case in July where a woman was raped and stabbed to death in Num Lang in Momauk Township.

”We have to defeat the military dictatorship” and can do it if everyone works together, she said.