Authorities in Myanmar have detained not less than 56 monks who spoke out in opposition to junta within the almost 18 months since final yr’s coup, whereas many different non secular leaders against army rule face harassment and are on the run amid the specter of arrest, RFA Burmese has discovered.

An investigation based mostly on media studies and interviews with native sources discovered that the junta focused members of the Buddhist clergy who had peacefully protested the Feb. 1, 2021, coup, labeling and generally prosecuting them as supporters of the armed resistance.

Of the almost 5 dozen monks arrested, the bulk had been based mostly within the areas of Mandalay, Sagaing, Bago, Tanintharyi, Ayeyarwaddy, Magway and Yangon, in response to RFA’s findings. Whereas some have since been launched, RFA was unable to confirm the precise quantity.

Myanmar — a nation of round 54 million folks — is majority Buddhist and is dwelling to greater than 500,000 monks and 60,000 nuns based mostly in additional than 72,000 monasteries and convents, in response to statistics printed by the Ministry of Faith and Tradition in 2020.

Members of the Buddhist clergy, or Sangha, are revered by the general public because the nation’s supreme ethical authority, and whereas many have taken a stance in opposition to final yr’s coup, they haven’t assumed the type of management function that they’ve in previous anti-junta actions.

For its half, the junta has actively courted a small however influential group of nationalist monks, who view the regime as being aligned with their political agenda searching for an completely Buddhist Myanmar for ethnic majority Burmans.

Sources instructed RFA that members of the Sangha who specific views vital of the junta can anticipate to face harassment, arrest and even violence from authorities.

A resident of Ngwe Twin village in Sagaing’s Ayadaw township, an space that has seen a few of the strongest opposition to army rule for the reason that coup, instructed RFA on situation of anonymity that the chief abbot of the native Pubbah Yone Monastery was crushed and arrested by a joint pressure of junta troops and pro-military Pyu Noticed Htee militiamen on Aug. 15.

“They stormed the monastery and arrested the monk. Dragged him out and took him away fairly roughly. Additionally they demanded the keys to the pagoda treasury,” the resident stated, likening the raid to at least one on “an enemy camp.”

“[The military uses] faith solely as a type of propaganda. They at all times idiot folks by showing to be pro-religion. However once they aren’t happy [with the clergy], they arrest the monks. It is extremely unhappy that this was executed to a monk who was revered by the entire village.”

A member of the Buddhist clergy in Nat Mauk village, in Magway’s Aunglan township, instructed RFA {that a} fellow monk was not too long ago arrested by the army and sentenced to twenty years in jail for alleged ties to the anti-junta Folks’s Protection Drive (PDF) paramilitary group, which the regime has labeled a “terrorist group.”

“The monk had joined a … protest a while in the past. Later, after his arrest, they accused him of holding stacks of cash and preserving weapons in his possession, and stated that he took half … within the killing of Dalans (informers),” stated the supply, who additionally declined to be named.

“He by no means did something incorrect. However he stood with the folks within the [anti-junta] Spring Revolution and took half within the protests. It’s unhappy to see good monks like him arrested and imprisoned.”

Mandalay arrests

Authorities in Mandalay additionally arrested a number of members of the Buddhist clergy in Mandalay in 2021, in response to Raja Dhamma of the regional Sangha Union, together with monks Tusita, Thirenda, Vilatha, Viriya Dhamma and Rewata — every of whom was sentenced to 3 years in jail in July this yr for alleged ties to the armed opposition.

Raja Dhamma stated that many different monks who’ve peacefully opposed the coup are actually being hunted by the junta and “on the run” from authorities.

“[The military] staged the coup, not for the nation, however for their very own profit,” he stated.

“[Since then] they typically raid monasteries, compiling visitor lists and ensuring that monks who oppose them can’t discover refuge. [Nuns] and monks are additionally commonly focused by the army with brutal and inhumane acts.”

Raja Dhamma famous that members of the Mandalay Sangha Union have come beneath hearth from the army for posting anti-junta content material on social media and collaborating in a number of anti-junta avenue protests for the reason that coup.

On Oct. 2 final yr, junta forces in Mandalay used violence to disperse a peaceable protest by the union’s monks, which a resident of town who witnessed the incident described as “stunning.”

“Monks who had been holding a peaceable protest had been hit by a automotive [driven by soldiers who] … then bought out of the automotive and began taking pictures and making arrests,” stated the witness, who requested to not be recognized on account of safety issues.

“A few of the monks escaped. Those that bought arrested had been instantly disrobed proper there and crushed in public view. We had been so pissed off, however we could not do something to assist them.”

Raja Dhamma instructed RFA that though junta officers are focusing on monks who oppose them, the specter of arrest won’t deter them from peacefully opposing the coup.

Faith for political functions

Makes an attempt by RFA to contact junta Deputy Minister of Data Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for feedback on the arrests and different harassment went unanswered Friday.

In April, he instructed RFA that the junta “doesn’t arrest monks,” however has “carried out the authorized arrest of PDF members who disguise themselves as monks,” with out elaborating.

Junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing stated in a speech on Aug. 1 that PDF forces are answerable for having killed not less than 52 monks for the reason that takeover, though RFA was not capable of independently confirm his claims.

Htet Myat Aung, a resident of Mandalay, instructed RFA that the army typically denigrates members of the Buddhist clergy who oppose its rule for political functions.

“The junta makes use of faith for politics. In case you help them, you’re thought of a real monk. These from the Sangha Union who’re taking part within the struggle [against the junta] are known as ‘pretend monks,’” he stated.

“Monks have been oppressed in [prior movements against military rule], and what the junta is doing now’s no shock. It is the standard response.”

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.