151 civilians sentenced to death since coup, says Myanmar human rights group

By Admin 13 Apr 2023

DMG Newsroom
13 April 2023, Sittwe

Myanmar’s military regime has sentenced 151 civilians to death during the two-plus years since the coup in February 2021, according to an April 11 press release from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which has been tracking casualties and detentions since the putsch.

Among those sentenced to death, 34 democracy activists were under the age of 30, according to AAPP.

“It can be seen that the regime is deliberately targeting young people who are actively supporting the democracy movement by opposing the military coup,” the AAPP statement said.

The regime sentenced to death four democracy activists — including 88 Generation student leader U Kyaw Min Yu aka Ko Jimmy and ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker Ko Phyo Zeyar Thaw — in July 2022.

A court inside Insein Prison sentenced Ko Kaung Sett Paing, 20, a member of Yangon’s North Okkalapa students’ union, to life imprisonment on March 22. A military court also sentenced Ko Hein Htet aka Ko Po Po, a student activist of the North Okkalapa students’ union, to life in prison on February 9.

“The imprisonment of students is due to the military dictatorship system that has been firmly built over the ages, with the support of the junta and the military bureaucracy. Therefore, only if the military dictatorship can be eradicated will we be freed from this oppression,” an official from the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) told DMG.

DMG continues to attempt to contact Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the regime, to confirm the information regarding the AAPP statement that 151 pro-democracy activists and civilians have been sentenced to death since February 1, 2021.

The regime has declared that the AAPP is an unregistered association that does not comply with the rules of registration of associations and has no legal standing under the law.

U Ye Tun, a Myanmar political analyst, said that since the coup, the regime has been acting as though it has the right to prosecute and punish individuals who are considered to be interfering with military rule.

“After the coup, individuals believed to have interfered with the regime are being prosecuted and punished. I want to say that the regime wants to do what it has the right to do, according to the Constitution,” he added.

AAPP is a nongovernmental organisation that was founded in Mae Sot, Thailand, in 2000, under a previous Myanmar military regime.