YANGON: A rebel group in Myanmar’s northwest said on Saturday they have executed a convicted rapist who allegedly reoffended after being released from jail under a recent junta prison amnesty.

Ethnic armed groups run a parallel legal system in some of the country’s border territories and exercise capital punishment in some cases.

The country has been in turmoil since a February coup paralysed the economy and sparked nationwide protests, with over 1,200 people killed and 7,400 currently in prison following the junta’s crackdown on dissent.

Due to the swelling number of pro-democracy dissidents behind bars, the generals have offered occasional prison amnesties to inmates convicted of various crimes, including violent offenders.

On Saturday, Chin National Defense Force spokesman Cung Ngai confirmed his organisation, which operates in the country’s northwest, executed a convicted rapist who had been released in an October amnesty. “He robbed property from others and raped women and even raped underage children. Therefore, we had to give him the death sentence as punishment,” he told AFP about the Friday execution. The man was taken into custody 12 days before his death, after multiple complaints from villagers.

In April, an ethnic armed group in Shan state executed a man for raping and killing a five-year-old girl shortly after he was released in a prison amnesty.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said 26 people including two minors have been sentenced to death by the junta in Myanmar since the generals took power and ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government.

Almost 40 others have also been sentenced to death in absentia, the monitoring group said.