More than 1,500 members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Myanmar’s most popular and electorally successful political party, have been jailed since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, the NLD said.
Junta personnel also killed at least 100 members of the party since the coup, including 11 who died in prison from torture or lack of medical care, the NLD said in a statement on Tuesday. It put the number of NLD members jailed since the coup at 1,539.
NLD lawmaker U Kyaw Myo Min, who was also chair of the party’s Bilin Township office in Mon State, was among those tortured to death while in detention in July 2022.
During the same month, former NLD MP and hip-hop star U Phyo Zeya Thaw was executed at Insein Prison along with veteran democracy activist Ko Jimmy and anti-coup protesters Ko Hla Myo Aung and Ko Aung Thura Zaw.
Senior NLD member U Nyan Win was among the NLD members who died because they did not receive proper medical care. He died from COVID-19 after contracting the virus in prison.
Besides targeting members of the NLD, the regime dissolved the party, destroyed party offices and sealed off property belonging to party members.
The party’s senior leaders remain behind bars. They include President U Win Myint, chairwoman and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, vice chairman and former Mandalay Region chief minister Dr. Zaw Myint Maung. All were given long-term prison sentences after being convicted of trumped-up charges.
- Zaw Myint Maung, 73, has cancer. He was recently transferred from the hospital inside Mandalay’s Obo Prison to Mandalay General Hospital.
The NLD won a landslide victory in the 1990 general election, but the military regime refused to relinquish power. The NLD continued to enjoy overwhelming support across the country and won landslide victories in 2015 and 2020. The results of the last election were annulled by the current regime and the NLD was prevented from continuing to govern the country for a second term.
The regime has said it is preparing to hold an election in 2025. The proposed election is widely seen as a sham intended to cement military rule, but neighboring countries China and India have been assisting the regime with its electoral process.
After junta boss Min Aung Hlaing vowed last month to hold an election, India’s ambassador visited election chief Ko Ko to offer Delhi’s assistance with election preparations.
China’s departing ambassador, Chen Hai, also discussed the junta’s arrangements for the election in farewell talks with Min Aung Hlaing recently.
Junta No. 2 Soe Win subsequently explained preparations for the election during his first official visit to China earlier this month.
Ko Ko urged his staff to step up preparations for the election at a workshop on managing voter lists in early July.
The Communist Party of China has invited representatives of Myanmar’s military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party, the People’s Party led by 88-Generation student leader Ko Ko Gyi, the Arakan Front Party led by Dr. Aye Maung and the Shan and Ethnic Democratic Party (previously Shan Nationalities Democratic Party) to pay a seven-day visit to China starting Saturday.
