Baptist pastor executed by Myanmar military junta amid conflict: watchdog
The Rev. William, a Baptist pastor in Myanmar’s Chin state, has been killed by the country’s military junta, along with a fellow Chin Christian, Nam Ceu, according to international advocacy groups. The pastor had led his congregation for more than 25 years.
The pair had been arrested in May and held by the military since then, according to the U.S.-based International Christian Concern (ICC). The two men were accused of aiding the Hakha Chinland Defense Force, an armed group fighting the junta.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been in conflict since a 2021 coup, when the military overturned the second consecutive election victory of the party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The takeover widened a decades-long fight between the military and ethnic armed movements, which have long contested government authority along the country’s border regions and demanded autonomy, into a nationwide war. New pro-democracy resistance groups have since allied with established ethnic forces, some of which comprise Christians.
The Rev. William, who did not use a surname, was killed on June 4, and a funeral service was held on Aug. 26 in Chungcung, reports the Maryland-based Burma Research Institute.
The Rev. William’s church, Chungcung Baptist Church, was looted and burned in October 2021, and the village around it has faced repeated violent raids since the military junta seized power that year. The village consisted of about 300 houses.
William leaves behind a wife and five children.
“We grieve with his family, his congregation, and our Chin brothers and sisters everywhere. This was an extrajudicial killing, carried out without due process or trial," Rev. Dr. Robin Stoops, Burma Research Institute board chairman and former associate general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA, said in a statement. "But grief demands action. We call on the international community, and especially the United States, to hold those responsible accountable."
Stoops traveled through Chungcung village during a visit before the 2021 military coup.
The conflict has brought airstrikes, shelling, mass displacement and interruptions to humanitarian aid in Chin, Kayah, Kachin, Karen and parts of Shan states, where roughly 2 million Christians make their home.
The military controls only about 14% of the country’s territory.
The killing took place amid attacks on churches carried out by Myanmar’s soldiers.
Troops burned St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Kachin to the ground just ahead of the congregation’s planned Saint Patrick’s Day celebration in March 2025.
The cathedral fire came days after soldiers had already flattened a high school, the priest’s residence and the diocesan offices on the grounds, on Feb. 26 that year. Airstrikes had destroyed Sacred Heart Church in Mindat, Chin state, on Feb. 6. Less than a month later, an airstrike on March 3 destroyed the pastoral center at St. Michael’s Catholic Church, part of the Banmaw Diocese in Kachin.
Rights groups say the strikes on churches, Buddhist monasteries and other worship sites are retaliation against communities suspected of aiding ethnic resistance fighters.
The resistance groups have overrun hundreds of junta outposts, and the military has faced defections and surrenders in its ranks. The advocacy group Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust previously said the offensive brought hope to the pro-democracy movement but triggered a harsh crackdown by local commanders.
Ethnic Burman Buddhists make up most of Myanmar’s population, though the country is also home to a range of ethnic and religious minorities. Between 20% and 30% of ethnic Karen people are Christian, and Christians form a majority in Chin and Kachin states.
Decades of persecution have pushed many to flee Myanmar for neighboring India and Thailand, with some resettling in the United States or Australia, while many others remain in refugee camps near the border facing years of uncertainty.
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