Students allegedly involved in fight face trial: police

Mizzima News
18 August 2008

New Delhi - Four university students belonging to Monywa town of Sagaing division upper Burma, who were arrested last week for a fight, were produced before the Monywa township court, police said.

The No (2) police station of Monywa said the four students, who were arrested for beating a fellow university student – Aung Kyaw Soe Win - on Thursday, were produced before the court on Monday.

While declining to elaborate on the case, the police said Aung Kyaw Soe Win was in good health but did not mention whether he was among the four who were produced in court.

Earlier, Mizzima received contradictory reports that said Aung Kyaw Soe Win died in a fight on Thursday. Four of his friends were arrested and are in custody at No, (2) police station.

A person, who claimed to have witnessed the fight on Thursday, in an interview with Mizzima said Aung Kyaw Soe Win, a second year Bachelor of Arts student in Monywa University, was killed while four of his friends were arrested after they were attacked by local policemen following an argument near the university campus on Thursday evening.

The five students were returning to the University after singing in front of a girl's hostel when they were stopped by about 10 policemen, who asked them to come with them to the police station, the eyewitness said.

But when the students refused, the policemen charged at them, severely injuring Aung Kyaw Soe Win and his friend Tun Min, the eyewitness added.

Reportedly, Aung Kyaw Soe Win (19), and his friend Tun Min were beaten up severely and were pushed into a police van, where Aung Kyaw Soe Win died even before he could be admitted to hospital.

But contrary to the eyewitness account, a Buddhist Monk from Okkan Thawya monastery, located near the University Campus where the fight had allegedly taken place told Mizzima that the fight was among rival students.

"It was between students and we heard that one of them died," the monk, who spoke on condition of anonymity told Mizzima.

But on Friday and Saturday, University students said, several police vans were seen inside the university campus though it was not clear why the police were there.

The Monywa hospital, when contacted by Mizzima, said there is no record of any patient by the name of Aung Kyaw Soe Win being admitted to the hospital since Wednesday.

"We have no such patient by the name of Aung Kyaw Soe Win since August 13," an official at the hospital said.

A local resident of Monywa, whom Mizzima had requested to investigate the case said, while there has been a death of a student, it was impossible to understand the nature of the fight – whether it was student versus students or police versus students.

"As far as I could understand there was a fight on Thursday night and a man has died but it is impossible to confirm who died and who were involved in the fight as there were no eyewitness," the local said.

A person claiming to be a close friend of Aung Kyaw Soe Win in an email message told Mizzima that he had seen Aung Kyaw Soe Win's body and it was cremated on Sunday. But he declined to be interviewed on telephone and failed to provide contact details of Aung Kyaw Soe Win's family.

Reporting by Mizzima reporters; writing by Mungpi