Updated

People in the remote Myanmar community where soldiers killed at least five unarmed civilians say they are disappointed by the punishment, even though convictions of military personnel for human rights violations are virtually unprecedented.

A regional military tribunal last Thursday sentenced seven soldiers to five years imprisonment for killing villagers in Lashio district of Shan state.

Shan human rights activist Nan Kham Yone said Tuesday the sentence was too light and the survivors' families should have received compensation.

The victims' buried bodies were found after they had been detained by the army in late June during a period of fighting with armed ethnic rebels in the remote northeastern area.