Statement of Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD)

By Shan Nationalities League for Democracy • May 15, 2014

1) On May 5, 2014 at around 8:00 PM, Sai Ai Keng @ Ai Kyein, chairman of village-level SNLD from Namlinmau village, Pengtao Tract, Keng Tung Township, was beaten, abducted and arrested by government soldiers of the 245th Infantry Battalion.

2) Sai Ai Keng has been accused of having a gun given by Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) and having contacted with them. He was threatened, tortured, and forced to admit the accusation. But, according to our sources, he said he could not admit as he believed he did not commit any crime and he was not guilty.

3) We have been sadly informed today May 15, 2014 that as Sai Ai Keng did not admit verbally, he was then forced to sign a prepared letter so that he would be prosecuted with 17 (1) article, Unlawful Association Act. Such kind of incident will not only affect ceasefire agreement and peace process which Union Peace-making Work Committee and RCSS/SSA committing to implement but also will cause ethnic armed groups not to trust the government.

4) We strongly urge the government to stop trying to prosecute our member Sai Ai Keng @ Ai Kyein without any evidences. While the Government, Parliaments and Tatmadaw are trying to implement national ceasefire agreement with ethnic armed groups, we sincerely do not want such incident, like the small misconduct between local based troops, to hinder the process and to damage trust-building between ethnic nationality and the government. Therefore, we urge all stakeholders to cautiously collaborate and resolve the issue.

Central Executive Committee
Shan Nationalities League for Democracy

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