Rohingya killings: 7 Myanmar soldiers jailed for 10 years

Seven members of Myanmar's military have been sentenced to prison terms with hard labor for killing 10 Rohingya men last year, the state-run newspaper Global Light of Myanmar reported on Wednesday.

The sentences follow an internal investigation carried out by the country's military, or Tatmadaw, which centered on Inn Din, a village in western Rakhine State, where the bodies of the 10 men were found buried in a mass grave in September 2017.

The report said four officers and three men of other ranks "were involved in killing 10 terrorists."

All of the men were dismissed from the military and sentenced to 10 years hard labor for the killings, according to the Tatmadaw True News Information Team, which is quoted in the Global Light Of Myanmar. 

Police officers and civilians also found guilty of taking part in the killings have yet to be sentenced, the report said, without giving further details.

More than 670,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees have fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar into neighboring Bangladesh since August 2017, bringing with them stories of murder, rape and destruction at the hands of the country's military. 

The UN and US has said the violence amounts to ethnic cleansing and the UN Special Envoy for human rights in Myanmar said it potentially bears the "hallmarks of genocide."

Reporters on trial
Two Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, have been arrested and are being tried in a court in Yangon for investigating the killings in Inn Din. On Wednesday, a court is expected to make a decision on whether the two will be granted bail. 

A detailed report on the mass grave published in February with their bylines was the first time soldiers and paramilitary police have been implicated in violence against the Rohingya by testimony from security personnel themselves, Reuters said.

The report quoted a retired Myanmar Army soldier who claimed he helped dig a mass grave for 10 Rohingya Muslims who were killed by Buddhist villagers and soldiers in Inn Din.

Myanmar's military has vehemently denied any wrongdoing against civilians in the Rakhine State, claiming it has been conducting a battle against terrorists that attacked border outposts on August 25. 

On Monday, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said the court was seeking a ruling on whether the court has jurisdiction over the "alleged deportation of the Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh."

Bangladesh is a member of the court, which is intended as the world's "court of last resort." Myanmar is not. 

Source: CNN