'I kneel only before God,’ said priest killed in Myanmar
Two parish teachers present at the time of the murder of Fr Donald Martin Ye Naing Win, in Sagaing region, recount how the clergyman died. Ten men from a local unit of the anti-military junta People's Defense Forces have been arrested. They were under the influence of drugs or alcohol when they attacked the priest. More than 5,000 people attended his funeral.
Milan (AsiaNews/Agencies) – In front of the gunmen clearly under the influence of drugs or alcohol who ordered him to kneel, Fr Donald Martin Ye Naing Win, the priest killed last Friday in Myanmar, said: “I kneel only before God”. Then he quietly asked them: "What can I do for you? Is there an issue we can talk about?"
Those were the last words of the 44-year-old priest from the Archdiocese of Mandalay killed in Kangyitaw, a village in Sagaing region, Agenzia Fides reported.
The news agency of the Vatican Dicastery for Evangelisation cites two women who were present at the events and presented the facts to the Ministry of Justice of Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), which operates in exile.
The gunmen, who were tracked down and arrested, belong to the People's Defense Forces (PDF), an ensemble of rebel groups opposed to Myanmar military in control of the area where the murder took place.
It appears Fr Donald Martin tried to defend the two women, who teach at the local informal school and help the clergyman in the parish community. The school is one of the many run by Myanmar’s Catholic Church. The public education system no longer exists due to the war that broke out four years ago.
The men who attacked Fr Donald Martin, the witnesses said, came from a nearby village and it is not clear why they attacked him with such violence. Early reports suggest the group leader took out a knife and began attacking the priest, striking repeatedly and brutally the chest and throat.
Fr Donald apparently did not resist, "like a lamb at the slaughter,” the parishioners said, quoting the words of the Prophet Isaiah that are read during the Passion of Jesus.
Once the attack was over, the group of men left and the women raised the alarm. Alerted, the People's Defence Forces tracked down 10 suspects and arrested them that same day.
In a statement, the NUG said that the accused belong to a local defence group, adding that it “strongly condemns any acts of targeting civilians, including religious leaders.”
Fr Donald Martin Ye Naing Win was laid to rest on Sunday in a funeral held in Pyin Oo Lwin, the village where he was born, with more than 5,000 people in attendance.
Archbishop Marco Tin Win of Mandalay led the service, during which he made a new appeal “to all armed groups and actors involved in the conflict to lay down their weapons and take a path of peace and reconciliation.”
Kangyitaw, the village where the priest was killed, is located on the border between the townships of Shwebo and Wetlet, and has a Christian church and a Buddhist monastery. In 2023, junta forces carried out arson attacks in the village.
The Buddhist-majority Sagaing region includes a dozen Catholic villages between the Chindwin and Mu rivers. Card Charles Maung Bo, archbishop of Yangon, is a native of one of them, Monhla.
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