Burmese authorities say they have charged 93 people in connection with last month’s sectarian violence in the western town of Thandwe.
The government announced that the specially appointed investigation team had made dozens of arrests in relation to assault, arson an violence between Buddhists and Muslims.
The violence initially occurred when the Burmese President Thein Sein, toured areas in the troubled Rakhine state.
A relative of a Muslim politician arrested during the arrest accused authorities of favouring Buddhists, stating,
“The authorities arrested Buddhist suspects who were involved in arson, violent attacks, etc. but they were later granted bail and released. They said they did not have enough eyewitness evidence. On the contrary, the arrested Muslims have never been granted bail and are still under detention.”
Deputy Information Minister, Ye Htut, defended the investigation, reiterating,
“As we have said before, as far as violence is concerned we are going to take action against whoever committed such a crime regardless of either side. This is why we have released the situation reports from time to time. Those incidents happened during President Thein Sein’s visit to Rakhine State and the president ordered a thorough investigation and action against people from both communities who were involved in instigating or committing crimes and taking advantage of unfortunate circumstances.”