The following text is not a historical study. It is a retelling of the witness’s life story based on the memories recorded in the interview. The story was processed by external collaborators of the Memory of Nations. In some cases, the short biography draws on documents made available by the Security Forces Archives, State District Archives, National Archives, or other institutions. These are used merely to complement the witness’s testimony. The referenced pages of such files are saved in the Documents section.

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Gey Batt (* 1973)

Military (Myaung Mya Battalion) arrested Saw Gey Batt for his companion with KNU for 3 days. He was arrested without warrant and detained at Bogalay Police detention for one month. During the arrest, he was punched until unconscious. His hands were tied very tightly to stop blood circulation in it. They kicked him with combat boots until his head was broken. He was left in thirst and he was hit by pulling from the hair. He was not allowed to sleep in all days and nights at police detention and he was tortured if he was sleepy. They covered his legs with longgyi and put the metal bar on it and then they jumped on top of it. They tortured in this way until the skin was removed. Torture methods included hitting with the gun, open and close the doors by hitting with head and kicking until unconscious. They did not give enough food and left him until energy is lacked. (One torturee died due to food shortage). Swollen hands were occurred due to tight tying and his hands decayed gradually. When they sent him from Bogalay to Yangon by ship, they put him to transport bus by kicking; they also kicked him out of the vehicle upon arriving to the entrance of Insein Prison and cutting the robe with knife although it dipped in decayed swollen hands. He was tortured there for a month. Insein Court-Martial sentenced him to 20 year imprisonment under the section 17/1, 122 and 19 (h) on 3.11.1991. Three brothers and their father were incarcerated.

He faced very hard living situation in Insein prison. He had to eat the rice mixed with sand and grains. After staying for 8 years, he was released from Insein prison on 12.1.1999. After he was freed, he had to go to and sign at Sat San Police station and Kat Tha Mhyin police station (for almost a year). He was also threatened. As they were incarcerated, they could not do farming in their lands and then Government confiscated those farming lands.