Myanmar: Arakan Army Admits To Executing Prisoners Of War

(BANGKOK, January 24, 2025) — The Arakan Army (AA) in Myanmar should detail the actions it has taken against those in its ranks who are responsible for executing two prisoners of war, and the armed group should cooperate fully with international justice mechanisms, said Fortify Rights today.

“The Arakan Army’s acknowledgment of its forces committing these war crimes is a vital step toward accountability,” said Ejaz Min Khant, Human Rights Associate at Fortify Rights. “But it’s not enough to merely say that the perpetrators have been punished. The AA must be transparent about who was held accountable, what actions were taken, and share this information with international investigators without delay.”

Yesterday, Fortify Rights published an analysis of two leaked videos it obtained showing a group of AA soldiers and plain-clothed men cutting and hacking the throats of two prisoners of war in front of a shallow dirt pit in the ground.

Hours after Fortify Rights published its findings, AA spokesperson Khaing Thuka acknowledged the authenticity of the videos, condemned the killings, and said that those responsible had been identified and punished, providing no further details. He confirmed to Myanmar news media that the two victims were captured Myanmar military junta soldiers and that the incident occurred during an army operation against the junta’s Military Operations Command 9 in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State, on February 7, 2024.

When asked about Fortify Rights’s report on the incident, Khaing Thuka suggested the executions were acts of revenge, telling BBC Burmese: “When they captured Myanmar military soldiers who had unlawfully arrested, tortured, and executed their own family members, some of our local resistance fighters could not control their anger and acted in this manner as an act of revenge, violating military discipline.”

Speaking with Narinjara News, he said: “This incident is completely against our policies. We do not condone such unlawful acts. Anyone who committed such offenses has been and will be punished. We will take the best measures to prevent such incidents from happening again while continuing our fight.”

“It’s very important that the Arakan Army condemned these heinous war crimes, but the narrative that the soldiers committed these killings in fits of personal rage doesn’t match the actual footage and is irrelevant under the laws of war,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer at Fortify Rights. “Crimes of passion happen in sudden fits of rage, but this footage shows up to ten soldiers casually murdering two prisoners, and the dialogue in the videos indicates the soldiers may have been acting on orders from a commander. The perpetrators also staged the killings for the camera, and the person filming provided instructions, none of which support the claim that these criminal acts were committed in the heat of passion.”

Fortify Rights said this case should be investigated and prosecuted by the International Criminal Court.

Under the laws of war and international criminal law, temporary emotional distress— such as rage, grief, or a desire for revenge—neither excuses nor mitigates criminal responsibility, said Fortify Rights. The Geneva Conventions explicitly prohibit the execution or mistreatment of prisoners of war, regardless of motive, even if those prisoners previously committed atrocities. All combatants in armed conflict must adhere to the laws of war and rules of engagement, even under extreme emotional stress.

Moreover, under the Geneva Conventions, all captured enemy soldiers must be treated humanely, and serious violations are considered war crimes. Military leaders and commanders who fail to prevent, investigate, or punish such violations may be held criminally responsible under the doctrine of command responsibility and prosecuted for war crimes.

Fortify Rights called on the AA and all parties to armed conflict in Myanmar to cooperate with international justice mechanisms, including the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), a body established by the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2018 to collect and preserve evidence of atrocity crimes in Myanmar for future prosecutions. Just days before the AA accepted responsibility for the killings, the IIMM published an explainer on its work, saying it is “investigating serious international crimes committed by all perpetrators, including recent atrocities in Rakhine State, as part of its mandate to collect, preserve, analyze and share evidence of the most serious international crimes committed in Myanmar since 2011.”

The AA is an ethnic armed group controlling vast areas of Rakhine State and fighting a revolutionary war against Myanmar’s illegal military junta. The junta is responsible for widespread war crimes and crimes against humanity in Myanmar, as well as genocide against Rohingya people in Rakhine State.

Fortify Rights has documented and exposed several instances of war crimes committed by AA, against the ethnic-Rohingya population in areas under its control, including a massacre of Rohingya civilians near the Naf River in Maungdaw on August 5, 2024, and an arson attack on Rohingya homes in May 2024. The AA has denied these allegations and has yet to take responsibility or hold its troops accountable for the crimes.

“These extrajudicial executions are not an isolated incident,” said Ejaz Min Khant from Fortify Rights. “Other atrocity crimes, like the Arakan Army’s arson attack in Buthidaung and the Maungdaw massacre of Rohingya, remain unacknowledged and uninvestigated. This video offers a glimpse into the brutality its forces are capable of on the ground. The Arakan Army must be transparent in holding those responsible accountable, strictly discipline its troops, and take proactive action, rather than only responding when exposed.”

© Scoop Media