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BANGKOK: A Myanmar military officer has fled to Thailand to seek
asylum, apparently because he refused orders to attack Buddhist
monks in antijunta protests, a senior Thai intelligence official
said Wednesday.
Major Hla Win entered Thailand with help from a
nongovernment organization, and he hopes to apply for asylum in
Norway, the official told AFP.
“He is not a senior general, but is
mid-ranking,” the official said.
Hla Win’s defection is the first known case
of a military official fleeing the country since the junta last week
ordered a crackdown on antigovernment protests.
The Thai official could not say why Hla Win had
fled, but Myanmar watchers said they believed he had refused orders
to open fire on Buddhist monks who last week 100,000 people into the
streets of Yangon.
At least 13 people were killed and 1,000
arrested in a bloody crackdown on protesters in Yangon.
The protests erupted in mid-August after a hike
in the price of fuel, but escalated into the biggest threat to the
regime in 20 years when Buddhist monks emerged to lead the movement.
Japan may cut aid to Myanmar
TOKYO: Japan said Wednesday it was considering
cutting aid to Myanmar following the deadly shooting of a Japanese
journalist covering pro-democracy demonstrations in Yangon.
“Japan will not stop the aid to combat polio,
which is benefiting ordinary people, but will study if we could
suspend assistance for things such as human resource centers,”
said Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura.
In 2003, Japan suspended low-interest loans for
major projects such as infrastructure to protest the continued
detention of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the head of the
National League for Democracy.
Japan has so far continued aid for humanitarian
purposes in a rare break with its Western allies.
But it has indicated it is ready to take
tougher measures in light of a deadly military clampdown on
demonstrations in Myanmar and the death of journalist Kenji Nagai.
Nagai was killed in Yangon on September 27
while covering the crackdown on the protests. Television footage
later appeared to show he was shot at close range by Myanmar troops.
Murder charges against
Myanmar troops
Japan’s police will seek to press murder
charges against Myanmar troops who shot dead a Japanese journalist
during pro-democracy protests last month, a newspaper reported
Wednesday.
Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department will
seek the prosecution of the soldiers who killed Nagai, 50, a
journalist for the Tokyo-based video news service APF News, the
Yomiuri newspaper reported.
Under Japanese law, police can seek the
prosecution of suspects when a Japanese national is the victim of a
felony crime overseas, although whether the suspects are extradited
depends on whether there is a treaty in place.
In television footage later aired by Japanese
broadcasters, Nagai, dressed casually in shorts and sandals,
appeared to be shot at close range by Myanmar troops.
Nagai, who is believed to have died instantly
after a bullet fatally penetrated his body, was seen lying on the
ground still clutching his video camera.
Myanmar leaders told Japan’s Deputy Foreign
Minister Mitoji Yabunaka during a visit to the capital Naypyidaw
that the fatal shooting was an accident.
Yabunaka returned to Japan on Wednesday from
his trip to Myanmar, where he protested the killing and sought an
explanation about the incident.
The military regime refused the envoy’s
request to meet with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Japanese police plan to conduct an autopsy on
Nagai’s body, which is expected to return Japan on Thursday via
Bangkok, the Yomiuri newspaper said. His parents will meet the body
in Tokyo.
Nagai, the first foreigner killed in the mass
protests, had entered Myanmar on the eve of the crackdown against
the mass protests led by thousands of Buddhist monks.
--AFP
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