16th - 23rd February, 2022

 

Fighting has been raging since 21 February in Moebye border town between Shan and Karenni States. The KNDF claims more than 60 junta’s troops have been killed in clashes and the junta fired nearly 500 artillery shells a day and carried out 21 airstrikes during the six-day battle.

According to local media reports, more than 20 Karenni troops were also killed and many more were injured in heavy artillery shelling on 17 February. On the same day, as many as 12 members of the 

People's Defense Forces were killed in a clash near Kan Gyi Kone village in Khin-U Township, Sagaing, DVB reported.

NUG's Public Voice TV reports that two YAK 130 fighter jets were destroyed when the People's Force (Yangon) carried out a remote mine attack inside the junta’s air force base in Hmawbi Township, Yangon on the night of 18 February. However, the junta’s spokesperson told the BBC that no such attack had taken place.

On 21 February, the coalition of local defence forces attacked the junta’s troops and Pyu Saw Htee members deployed in Zee Phyu Kone village, Pale Township, Sagaing, and rescued 40 captured villagers, PDF’s memebrs told Myanmar Now.

Political prisoners in the prison are being sexually assaulted, people close to them wrote on social media. A 23-year-old girl from the student union arrested in Mandalay's Obo Prison was raped but denied medical treatment. Two other male students were also reportedly raped in custody.

The junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) is conducting audits of political parties, but the NLD and SNLD confirmed to the Myanmar now that both had rejected the audit. Two prominent writers Maung Thar Cho and Htin Lin Oo, who have been detained since the first day of the coup and charged under the 505(a) of the Penal Code, were sentenced to two and three-year imprisonment respectively, according to the Burma VJ.

The European Union (EU) has imposed further sanctions on 22 individuals and businesses linked to the junta. The list includes Htoo Group, the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), and the junta-appointed UEC members.

The International Criminal Court (ICJ) resumed hearings on 21 February on allegations that Myanmar violated the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Myanmar is represented by a delegation team led by the junta-appointed Union Minister for International Cooperation.