Myanmar’s military regime has opened a case against two detained village administrators from Buthidaung Township under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act at the township court, according to family members of the accused.

 

The administrator of Mee Kyaung Zay Village, Amy Hunsen, and Tet Min Chaung Village administrator U Kyaw Hla were arrested last month.

 

“They were remanded into custody on September 29. We only knew that today. They were beaten during detention. We have had to send him medicine,” said a family member of U Kyaw Hla.

 

The pair were detained over their alleged ties to the Arakan Army (AA), which family members have denied.

 

Officials from a Buthidaung-based tactical command unit summoned the administrators of 12 nearby villages to a meeting on September 3. Ten of them were released the following day, but the administrators of Mee Kyaung Zay and Tet Min Chaung villages were detained.

 

The Myanmar military has filed charges against the two at the Buthidaung Township Court, said a family member of Amy Hunsen.

 

Other village administrators in Buthidaung Township are considering tendering their resignations, said one administrator who asked for anonymity.

 

“They arrest administrators and charge them though they did nothing wrong,” said the administrator. “We have concerns. We are trapped between them. We have to listen to both sides [the Myanmar military and the AA]. And it is us who are punished if something goes wrong.”

 

DMG was unable to contact the Buthidaung Township administrator and Arakan State Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Kyaw Thura for comment.

 

In July, the in-charge of Tharyargone (Taungpyo) Village and the Thinbaw Hla Village administrator were detained after they were summoned to a meeting with local border guard police in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township. The two men remain detained.

 

Some administrators in Maungdaw Township submitted letters of resignation following the junta’s arrest of those administrators and amid renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and the AA in recent months.