Myanmar junta executes 4 democracy activists
Nay Pyi Daw, Jul 25: Myanmar's military authorities have executed four democracy activists, state media reported on Monday.
The activists were accused of leading "brutal and inhumane terror acts," the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said. These are Myanmar's first in decades.
Who
were
the
executed
men?
The
executed
men
included
democracy
activist
Kyaw
Min
Yu
and
former
lawmaker
and
hip-hop
artist
Phyo
Zeya
Thaw,
the
paper
reported.
Myanmar court sends Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in jail for corruption
Thaw was a lawmaker from ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).
The other two executed men were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw.
The Global New Light of Myanmar said that the four had been charged under the counter-terrorism law and the penal code. The newspaper said the punishment had been conducted under the prison's procedures.
A
'vile
attempt
at
instilling
fear'
The
four
were
sentenced
to
death
in
January
in
a
closed-doors
trial.
They
were
accused
of
helping
militias
to
fight
the
army
that
seized
power
in
a
coup
last
year.
Two UN experts called the planned executions a "vile attempt at instilling fear" among the people.
Myanmar: Suu Kyi sentenced to 5 years in corruption case
Myanmar authorities engaged in a brutal crackdown to quash protests against the coup. The Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group said that 2,100 people have been killed by security forces since the coup.
The AAPP said, before Monday, the last judicial executions in Myanmar took place in the late 1980s.
'Going
back
to
the
dark
ages'
The
United
Nation's
special
rapporteur
for
Myanmar,
Tom
Andrews,
said
that
he
was
"outraged
and
devastated"
over
the
executions.
"These depraved acts must be a turning point for the international community," he said.
I'm devastated by news that former parliamentarian Zeyar Thaw and longtime activist Ko Jimmy were executed with two others today. UN Member States must honor their lives by making this depraved act a turning point for the world's response to this crisis. My statement attached. pic.twitter.com/zhdBxFDXoo
— UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews (@RapporteurUn) July 25, 2022
Myanmar shadow national unity government spokesman Kyaw Zaw said that members of the government-in-exile were "extremely saddened" and "condemn the junta's cruelty with strongest terms." He stressed that "the global community must punish their cruelty."
International Crisis Group Myanmar analyst Richard Horsey said that "any possibility to end the crisis created by the coup has now been removed."
"[Myanmar's junta] sees this as a demonstration of strength, but it may be a serious miscalculation," he concluded.
"There were no executions for 30 years. This turns back the clock... going back into [the] dark ages," Khin Zaw Win, director of the Tampadipa Institute think tank, said.
Source: DW