At least 14 National League for Democracy (NLD) members and supporters were killed by pro-regime terror groups in less than two weeks, and the regime was behind the killings, the party’s Central Working Committee said.
A committee report stated that since April 21, the pro-regime terror groups Thwe Thout, Kite and Myochit flagrantly raised death threats against party members, elected lawmakers and their families and supporters.
According to data compiled as of May 5, at least seven party members and seven staunch supporters were abducted from their homes by those groups in Mandalay, Tanintharyi and Yangon regions, with their dead bodies dumped on streets the next day with the responsible group’s logo on a lanyard.
“With witnesses seeing abductions and the dumping of victims’ bodies from junta vehicles, regime forces were clearly involved in those cases,” the committee said.
Late last month, junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun denied any association with the pro-junta miltias.
Local residents and pro-democracy activists have widely rejected his denial, saying everyone knows that the junta is behind those groups and supporting them to silence opposition to the regime.
The committee said on Tuesday that since seizing power by overthrowing the elected, NLD-led government, the regime has arrested 917 party members and of them, 701 remain under detention in the junta’s custody across the country, including the party’s leaders, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, and 98 elected lawmakers.
Since then, the regime has stepped up its efforts to destroy the country’s most popular party with arrests, lawsuits, violence and killings.
According to the Central Working Committee, 38 party members have been killed by junta forces since the coup. The junta has also seized 209 houses belonging to NLD members and raided and destroyed more than 100 party offices.
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