A Myanmar ethnic minority armed group executed six men after a public trial in an enclave it controls near the China border, media outlets affiliated with the group reported Friday.
On Thursday, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) put 14 individuals on trial for offenses including kidnapping, extortion and murder, according to The Kokang news outlet.
Photos from the trial showed the defendants, dressed in identical blue tracksuits, being paraded in front of a crowd of around 1,000 people in Laukkai, a city located just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from China's Yunnan province. Each defendant wore a placard around their neck with the word "criminal" written in Chinese characters.
Six men convicted of robbery, kidnapping and murder while pretending to be MNDAA soldiers were executed on the spot, The Kokang said.
It did not provide details on the sentences given to the other eight defendants.
Many of Myanmar's ethnic armed groups run parallel legal systems in territories they control along the country's borders.
In April, the MNDAA executed three of its fighters for murder and selling weapons and ammunition stolen from the group.
The United Wa State Army, another group with territory along the China border, sentenced a man to death at a public trial in October for murdering an 8-year-old girl.
In 2022, Myanmar's junta executed four people – the first judicial executions in the country in decades.
Myanmar has been in chaos since the military seized power in a 2021 coup, with ethnic rebel groups and the newer "People's Defense Forces" battling the military across the country.
The MNDAA, which can call on around 8,000 fighters, took control of Laukkai in January after about 2,000 government troops surrendered following weeks of fighting, in a huge blow to the junta.
Earlier this week, the MNDAA said it was ready for China-mediated talks with the junta to end more than a year of renewed fighting.
China is a major ally and arms supplier of the junta but also maintains ties with ethnic rebel groups that control territory near its border.
It has repeatedly called for fighting to stop in Shan state, a key link in its trillion-dollar Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
