Aug 28, 2008 (DVB), Kachin people overseas staged demonstrations yesterday in front of Burmese embassies in Asia and Europe to denounce the rape and murder of a Kachin girl by government troops.

The 15-year-old girl, a resident of Nam Sai village in Moe Mauk township, was gang raped and killed by an officer and soldiers from the Burmese army’s Light Infantry Battalion 437 on 27 July.

Protests were held in Japan, India, Thailand, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Denmark in front of Burmese government embassies.

Peter Bran Sang, a spokesperson for the Kachin National Organisation and organiser of the demonstration in Tokyo, said the protestors' aim was to inform the international community of how the Burmese authorities are systematically committing these crimes.

"We are raising our voices here to let the world know that the State Peace and Development Council government is a group of megalomaniacs that rapes people," Bran Seng said.

"It is our national cause to raise awareness of this because these cases will keep happening as long as this government is in power."

Also in Kachin state last year, there was a similar incident where Burmese military troops gang raped four state high school students in Putao.

The victims in this case were imprisoned after they told their story to the international media.

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet