Sep 25, 2025 (News On Japan) - Nearly 18 years have passed since journalist Kenji Nagai was shot dead while covering a protest in Myanmar, and new analysis has revealed that his final words were recorded on the video camera he held until the very end.
In 2007, when clashes erupted nationwide between pro-democracy monks and citizens and the military junta’s security forces, Nagai was filming on the ground. “People are gathering here,” he said into the camera as heavily armed military trucks approached. Moments later, still gripping his camera, he was shot and killed by security forces.
APF News, where Nagai was based, held a press conference on September 24th to release the results of a new analysis of his footage. One finding was the discovery of his final words. In the recording, he can be heard saying something akin to “Let’s go back for now.” The video also shows a young boy carrying plastic bottles running toward the camera in a dangerous protest zone. As the camera shook, analysts suggested Nagai may have lowered it to help or take the boy’s hand.
Colleagues said Nagai, who made reporting from conflict zones his life’s work, was always drawn to protect the vulnerable, often voicing frustration with societies and media indifferent to war. “In Afghanistan and Iraq as well, if children were nearby, we knew he would go to them,” one said.
The video camera, missing after the shooting, was returned to his family last year through an independent Myanmar media outlet. Forensic analysis showed signs the footage had been deliberately overwritten. About six seconds before the shooting, the image abruptly cut to black, but signal traces indicated a discrepancy between Nagai’s filming and the blacked-out segment, suggesting tampering.
“He was someone obsessed with recording,” APF noted. “It is natural to think that someone who saw what he filmed decided it was too dangerous and overwrote it.”
Myanmar has since seen another military coup in 2021, with nearly 7,000 civilians killed and democratic progress once again reversed. APF said it will continue efforts to restore the overwritten footage and conduct further analysis.
Eighteen years after his death, Nagai’s camera once again speaks, carrying his determination to document events and his belief that change must come.
Source: TBS
