Supporters of the murdered Myanmar journalist are calling for an investigation

By Paul Mooney YANGON (Reuters) – A funeral was held for a Myanmar journalist on Friday, two days after his body was exhumed from a shallow grave where soldiers had buried him when he died in military custody a month earlier. About 400 family members, friends and supporters of journalist Par Gyi gathered at Yeway Cemetery on the outskirts of Yangon early in the evening. The crowd chanted slogans and sang protest songs during the ceremony. Some of them held signs protesting the death of the journalist, who died under mysterious circumstances on October 4. “Does the military have a license to kill?” a sign asked. “All people are Par Gyi,” said another. Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy and a Nobel Prize winner, sent flowers to the funeral. Tin Oo, a senior member of the NLD, attended the funeral and spoke to Than Dar, Par Gyi’s wife, demanding justice for the late journalist. Nyan Zaw, a member of Myanmar’s National Human Rights Commission, which is investigating the death, told Reuters that the investigation team would send an autopsy report to the health ministry today. The investigation is continuing, he said. After the body was exhumed on Wednesday, witnesses began to express concern that Par Gyi was tortured before he was shot. Robert San Aung, a lawyer for the family who was allowed to examine the body, said it bore multiple gunshot wounds. “I saw gunshot wounds to the chest, jaw and head,” he said. “I saw bruises on both legs that looked like something had rolled down his legs and thighs. This wasn’t a normal death. This was murder.” Par Gyi was arrested on September 30 after completing a photography assignment covering clashes between the military and the insurgent Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) in the east, the Myanmar-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said ) with. The AAPP has disputed the military’s statement that Par Gyi was shot dead as he tried to steal a gun from a soldier and escape after being arrested for being an information officer for an obscure insurgent group called the Klohtoobaw Karen Organization. Than Dar, a prominent women’s activist, has denied that her husband was a member of a military organization. She says she suspects he died during torture, which prompted the military to secretly bury his body. She also says that the DKBA has denied that Par Gyi is linked to any rebel military organization. After Than Dar disappeared at the end of September, she searched for her missing husband for several weeks and inquired with the Myanmar army, but there was no response. The army did not announce his death until 19 days after his death. The incident comes as Myanmar’s government prepares to host US President Barack Obama for a summit next week. The US State Department has called for a transparent investigation into Par Gyi’s death. Two independent reports of alleged military abuses also emerged this week, increasing pressure on Myanmar’s government. A Harvard Law School investigation released a report Friday that found troops under the command of Myanmar’s interior minister and two other senior officials tortured and killed civilians as they battled an ethnic insurgency more than six years ago. The report did not accuse officers of giving orders to troops to commit abuses, but said they were based on long-standing policies that “sanctioned the direct targeting of civilians and aimed at causing large-scale displacement.” On Thursday, Fortify Rights, an organization that documents human rights abuses in Southeast Asia, said the Myanmar army had targeted and killed civilians in Kachin State and northern Shan State. It called on the government to stop such attacks and bring the perpetrators to book. (This story has been refiled to correct headline) (Additional reporting by Aye Myint Win and Aung Hla Tun in YANGON)