The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) confirmed that six of the 37 missing political prisoners from Bago Region’s Daik-U Prison have been killed by Myanmar’s regime.
The 37 political prisoners from the prison, also known as Kyaiksakaw, have been missing since June 27 when the junta said it was transferring them.
The AAPP this month reported the death of two of the political prisoners after their families received letters from the prison authorities.
The activist group said six more families had received the same letters.
All the letters said that while transferring prisoners from Insein Prison, a vehicle crashed and the prisoners attempted to escape. They were killed by “warning shots” fired by security personnel trying to recapture them, the letters said.
An AAPP spokesman told The Irrawaddy that the junta’s claims are impossible.
“If it actually happened like they claimed there is no way that the accident and shooting of the prisoners would not be reported by residents and the prison would have informed them immediately. But now they concealed it and only informed after a long time. It is totally dishonest.”
The families of the remaining 31 prisoners have heard nothing and the prison authorities refuse to reveal their whereabouts.
“The other 31 and all political prisoners at the hands of the junta and face alarming risks as the junta is increasingly killing political prisoners using prison transfers as a pretext,” he added.
The six confirmed dead on Wednesday were Yar Lay, also known as Zin Myint Tun; Jar Gyi, also known as Wai Yan Lwin; Zin Win Htut, also known as Ba La Gyi; Aung Myo Thu; Bo Bo Win and Nay Aye, also known as Arkar Htet Paing Myo.
Two other political prisoners in Daik-U Prison, Aung Soe Moe and a lawmaker for Waw Township in Bago Region, Maung Dee, died on July 16 and 17, the AAPP reported on Wednesday.
The family of middleweight fighter Tue Tue was informed about his death on July 13 when they were called to Magwe police station, the AAPP reported.
Tue Tue was tortured to death during interrogation on April 26, it stated.
“These events make clear the junta is killing and disposing of the bodies of political activists,” AAPP secretary U Tate Naing said.
The AAPP asked foreign governments and international institutions, including the United Nations, to carry out emergency investigations and act against Myanmar’s junta to stop extrajudicial killings and other atrocities.
Since the 2021 coup, the junta has killed at least 3,810 people and arrested nearly 24,000.
