NUG leader lashes out at regime, urges international aid for pro-democracy struggle 

By DMG 29 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
29 July 2022, Sittwe 

The acting president of the National Unity Government (NUG), Duwa Lashi La, on Thursday accused the military junta of terrorising and threatening pro-democracy activists, whom he praised as standing for the truth and the Myanmar people. 

The NUG leader said the regime’s execution of four democracy activists, including the prominent dissidents Ko Jimmy and Ko Phyo Zeyar Thaw, amid strong opposition both domestically and internationally, showed that peace would not be achieved in Myanmar under the current government. 

“As long as the military junta is in power, it will continue to blatantly violate human values and human rights, clearly showing that it will not be possible to establish a peaceful country with democratic standards. In other words, it proves that the security of the country cannot be maintained as long as there is a dictator,” Duwa Lashi La said in a “state of the union” address on July 28. 

The Myanmar people were outraged by the news, announced in junta-run state media, that veteran democracy activist Ko Jimmy, former National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker Ko Phyo Zeyar Thaw, Ko Hla Myo Aung and Ko Aung Thura Zaw had been recently executed. 

Ko Zaw Zaw, a former political prisoner, said the actions of the military regime were inhumane. 

“It must be said that the execution of the four prisoners was an inhumane act of cruelty by the military junta. Despite the law [allowing for capital punishment], Myanmar has not carried out the death penalty for 40 years. Now, the execution of political prisoners is absolutely inhumane,” he said. 

Ethnic armed groups such as the Karen National Union, Karenni National Progressive Party, Chin National Front and All Burma Students’ Democratic Front issued a statement on July 26 calling the junta’s punishment outright murder. 

In a statement, the Arakan Army said it is deeply worried about the possible consequences of the regime’s decision to execute the men, who were sentenced to death in January. The statement said the junta had “stupidly carried out [the executions] despite requests from diplomatic and political circles not to carry out the executions, which is a wrong thing to do, at a wrong time.” 

U Pe Than, a veteran Arakanese politician, said such brutal actions in Myanmar were caused by the failure to solve political problems politically. 

“These people [the four deceased] have always been politicians, not criminals. My view is that political prisoners should not be hanged,” he said. “Even if they are guilty, it should not be a death sentence, but rather a long prison sentence, and then they can be rehabilitated when peace is made at some point. Because political problems are not solved by political means, these consequences have arisen.” 

In his speech, Duwa Lashi La also called on the international community to recognise the NUG as Myanmar’s legitimate government, and requested “technical support, arms and ammunition” from foreign governments and other international actors. 

At least 2,133 people have been killed by the regime since the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, according to a July 28 statement from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).