An urban resistance group on Friday killed U Than Tun, 54, the chair of the pro-junta New National Democracy Party (NNDP) in Thingangyun Township, Yangon.
At least two men shot him with pistols. They fired six rounds at his Nga Moe Yeik ward house and he died in an ambulance, said a resident.
The neighbor said: “Before 2010 he was in the National League for Democracy [NLD] and had a Daw Aung San Suu Kyi picture in his home shrine. But he backed the military after joining the NNDP.”
The Nga Moe Yeik Mission resistance group said U Than Tun was targeted for his vocal junta support, including organizing rallies.
Ahead of the 2021 coup, U Than Tun said the military had a right to seize power and pledged the NNDP’s support. On social media, he repeatedly demanded death sentences for democracy activists U Jimmy and U Zeya Thaw and posted to celebrate their executions last year.
At rallies at Sule Pagoda, U Than Tun praised junta airstrikes as righteous and said he supported regime violence against civilians.
He left the NLD and with U Thein Nyunt, who is currently a junta adviser, founded the National Democratic Force with other former NLD members. U Thein Nyunt founded the NNDP in 2012 and U Than Tun joined.
When U Thein Nyunt joined the military’s State Administration Council after the 2021 coup, U Than Tun became the NNDP chair.
The NNDP was among 34 political parties that met Senior General Min Aung Hlaing before the November 2020 general election in Naypyitaw.
The meeting heard concerns from minor parties about the general election and some parties sought the military chief’s assurance that he would intervene if voting was unfair.
Min Aung Hlaing promised to act if necessary and seized power on February 1, 2021.
