The junta-controlled Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) reported on March 6 that authorities had exhumed the body of Angel, Ma Kyal Sin, a 19-year-old ethnic Chinese girl who was shot dead in the street during an anti-coup demonstration, and conducted an autopsy. The military government claims that Deng was not shot and killed by police. The news added to the outrage of protesters, who believe the military government has stigmatized the dead and distorted the truth, as nationwide protests erupted again Sunday.
Rumors circulated in Myanmar on Saturday that the grave of Deng Jiaxi, who was shot dead during demonstrations in Mandalay, the second largest city, had been exhumed by the military. According to Reuters, the military government later confirmed that it had exhumed Deng’s body for an autopsy and said it had “confirmed” that he was not killed by military police. In addition, the junta’s security forces finished dispersing civil demonstrations against the coup on Saturday and then searched for dissidents again late at night.
The report said Deng’s grave was sealed by military and police officers on Friday and her coffin was removed. Authorities placed her body on a bench for an autopsy and are suspected to have removed a small piece from it before reburying it. The Burmese military government said Saturday that it had taken Deng’s body out for an autopsy. Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV), which is controlled by the military government, later reported that the autopsy report showed that a 1.2 cm x 0.7 cm piece of metal was found in Deng’s brain, unlike the bullet head used by the military police. MRTV also claimed that the anti-government elements killed Deng Jiaxi to create chaos.
In response to the junta’s latest propaganda campaign, anti-coup protesters in Burma accused the authorities of trying to cover up the killing and said that the exhumation was a great insult to Deng and his Family. According to the report, photos taken of Deng Jiaxi before she was killed show her head turned backwards. In other words, the back of her head was facing the direction of the military police.
It is worth noting that Ari Ben-Menashe, an Israeli-Canadian political lobbyist hired by the Burmese military government, told Reuters that the Burmese military wants to move away from politics sooner rather than later, “does not want to be a puppet of China” and wants to mend relations with the United States. In a telephone interview, Menashe told Reuters that the Burmese military believes Aung San Suu Kyi’s ties with Beijing are too close.
The former Israeli intelligence officer said, “(The military) is actually moving closer to the West and the United States rather than trying to get closer to China. They [the military] want to get rid of politics completely … but it’s a process.” Menashe also claimed that another message he was asked to deliver by the Burmese military was that the junta wanted to facilitate the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who were driven out in 2017. A spokesman for Myanmar’s military government declined to comment on Saturday.
Myanmar’s military and National Defense Force chief Min Aung Hlaing is accused of committing genocide against the Rohingya in 2017, forcing hundreds of thousands of Rohingya out. Even before the Feb. 1 military coup, military chiefs such as Min Aung Hlaing had been sanctioned by the West for genocide crimes. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights group, the military government has arrested at least 1,500 people and killed more than 50 since the anti-coup demonstrations in Burma.
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