GENEVA, 5 March 2012 (TON): The United Nations human rights investigator on Myanmar said on 4 March that Myanmar’s military has murdered, beaten and unlawfully arrested protesters since it seized power in a coup on 1 February this year and called for wide-ranging punitive sanctions.

In a UN Human Rights Council report, Thomas Andrews urged the UN Security Council to impose a global arms embargo and targeted economic sanctions on the military rulers and refer alleged atrocities to the International Criminal Court for prosecution. He said, “States should impose sanctions on the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, now controlled by the military and its largest source of revenue.”

As The UNSC is due to discuss the situation on Friday in a closed meeting, the protests supported and funded by foreign nations have increased. In support, the UN investigator’s statement confirmed that 38 people had been killed during Wednesday’s demonstrations while till 1 March 23 were believed to have been killed. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party said in a statement that flags would fly at half-mast at its offices to commemorate the dead.

As per the details, Police opened fire and used tear gas to disperse protests in Yangon, Monywa, Pathein and Taunggyi.

The UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, called on the security forces to stop “vicious crackdown on peaceful protesters”. She added tha more than 1,700 people had been arrested, including 29 journalists.

The European Union suspended support for development projects to avoid providing financial assistance to the military, officials said on Thursday. The support in past years has involved more than 200 million euros ($240.7m) in separate programmes often running for four years.

Meanwhile, there are confirmed reports that India is using its soil and funding to create unrest in Myanmar’s military and Police. Foreign media reported that 19 Myanmar police officers have crossed over into India for unknown reasons.