The National Unity Government (NUG) announced that severe penalties will be imposed in line with the law, if people’s defence force (PDF) members are found guilty of killing a woman in Sagaing Region’s Tamu Township.

A video clip of a young woman on a street being beaten and forced to confess to being a military informant before being shot dead, has been trending on social media. The three-minute 32-second long video was released on 3 December.

According to Tamu residents, the woman was Aye Mar Tun, age 24, a teacher who was not taking part in the Civil Defence Movement (CDM). They said that she was killed in June for giving information to the junta that led to the arrest and killing of local PDF members.

The NUG Ministry of Defence said that the killing breached the NUG’s code of conduct and rules of engagement.

In its statement in response to the killing, the NUG said that it has instructed the relevant officials to urgently investigate the incident to find out if any PDF members were involved and whether the rules of engagement were contravened. If anyone is found guilty of breaking the rules of engagement they will be severely punished, as it is unacceptable to contravene those rules.

The NUG statement also said that members of PDFs, People’s Police Forces and People’s Defence Organisations must act in accordance with military law and procedures and not fall into the trap of committing atrocities and barbarities like the junta forces do.