Myanmar's Junta Seizes Veteran Student Leader

By The Irrawaddy 24 October 2021

Ko Jimmy, also known as Kyaw Min Yu, a prominent 88 Generation Student leader, was detained by the junta on Saturday night in North Dagon Township, Yangon, according to his wife, Daw Nilar Thein. 

Daw Nilar Thein said she worried about his health. “The military council must take all responsibility for whatever happens to him,” she posted on Facebook on Sunday.

There are unverified reports that Ko Jimmy, 52, sustained a severe head injury while being beaten by junta troops during his arrest at the Pin Lon housing development.

Ko Jimmy has been evading arrest since February. Within two weeks of the Feb. 1 coup, the junta issued arrest warrants for him, U Min Ko Naing, another prominent 88 Generation figure, and a few others on Feb. 13 for alleged incitement.

Myanmar’s junta has killed nearly 1,200 people and detained more than 9,000 others since the Feb. 1 coup, according to the advocacy group the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners. 

Ko Jimmy rejected the military’s seizure of power from the democratically elected government after it alleged voter fraud in last November’s general election. 

He said in a public video message that “we don’t trust the military” as it uses its old tactics to deceive, arrest and kill civilians. His message came while the junta was detaining the members of the NLD-appointed Union Election Commission in mid-February. 

The former political prisoner was jailed two times under previous military regimes for his activism. 

He was freed in a mass amnesty on January 13, 2012, after spending five years in prison for protesting against fuel price hikes in August 2007. He has since worked with the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society to promote peace and social development. 

He spent 15 years behind bars from 1988 to 1996 for participating in the popular August 1988 or “8888” nationwide uprising.

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