Post-coup civilian death toll surpasses 1,500: Myanmar rights group

By DMG 01 Feb 2022

DMG Newsroom
1 February 2022, Sittwe

The civilian death toll attributed to Myanmar’s military coup stood at 1,503 on Monday, the eve of the putsch’s one-year anniversary, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said in a January 31 statement.

“More than 1,500 innocent civilians have been killed in the regime’s violence. The junta must take full responsibility for these actions,” an official from AAPP told DMG.

As of Monday, at least 8,835 people remained detained since the coup on February 1, 2021, of which 661 have been sentenced to prison time and 45 sentenced to death, including two minors, according to AAPP.

“We pay tribute to the [living] victims and to those who sacrificed their lives in the Spring Revolution for the emergence of democracy, human rights and a federal democratic union,” the AAPP official added.

DMG attempted to contact Major-General Zaw Min Tun, the junta’s deputy minister for information and a spokesman for the military regime, regarding the AAPP statement and the coup’s one-year anniversary, but he could not be reached.

The AAPP said a total of 118 people had been sentenced to death either in person or in absentia, and 1,972 are considered fugitives of the law under the military regime. A total of 84 people have been sentenced to death, either in person or in absentia, according to AAPP.

AAPP was established on the Thai-Myanmar border in 2000, and provides statistics on political prisoners, the release of political prisoners, and — since the coup on February 1, 2021 — casualties related to the military takeover.

The State Administration Council (SAC), as Myanmar’s junta refers to itself, declared the AAPP an illegal organisation in April 2021.