Myanmar executes four pro-democracy activists
Myanmar's military regime announced Monday that it had executed four pro-democracy activists, the first executions in the Southeast Asian nation in more than three decades and what was seen as the latest attempt to instill fear in a resistance movement that has continued to battle the junta since it seized power in a coup last year.
The four activists were sentenced to death this year during closed-door trials in a military court without attorneys present. They were executed in secret Saturday for what the regime called “brutal and inhumane terror acts,” charges their defenders have said were unfounded.
The executions carried out by the notoriously insular Myanmar military signaled a rebuke to Western leaders, the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, who have all sought to persuade the junta to free political prisoners and halt the violence that has swept the nation since the coup.
Myanmar's generals have rejected efforts by foreign officials to influence their actions, calling them “reckless and interfering.” And while the regime has mostly ignored attempts at diplomacy, the U.N. Security Council has been unable to introduce harsh sanctions, at least partly reflecting resistance from China and Russia, Myanmar's allies.
U.N. representatives had urged the junta last month not to proceed with the executions, saying, “These death sentences, handed down by an illegitimate court of an illegitimate junta, are a vile attempt at instilling fear among the people of Myanmar.”
“They do not value human lives and they show that they do not respect the international community,” said Kyaw Zaw, a spokesman for the National Unity Government, a shadow government established by ousted civilian leaders after the coup. He said the executions were an affront to international efforts by U.N. officials and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, to bring peace.
“ASEAN leaders should see the true position of the military by now,” Kyaw Zaw said. “Killing the activists is outrageous and a sad day for the country.”
All four men who were executed Saturday — including the popular activist Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Ko Jimmy, and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former hip-hop artist who was elected to parliament — had been held at the notorious Insein Prison on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar's largest city.
Members of the prison staff confirmed that the executions had taken place and that the four men were executed by hanging. The other two activists executed were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw.
The military, which previously ruled the country for nearly half a century, has faced massive protests and a growing armed rebellion. Since ousting elected officials in the Feb. 1, 2021, coup, the regime has tried to crush dissent by arresting opposition leaders, gunning down unarmed protesters, bombing resistance encampments and burning thousands of homes.
But the regime has been unable to subdue resistance forces, who, along with armed ethnic groups that have been battling the military for years, claim to control about half of the country's territory.
Among the nearly 12,000 political prisoners being detained by the junta is ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, 77. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has already been convicted on half a dozen charges and sentenced to 11 years in prison. She faces 13 more counts that carry a maximum cumulative sentence of more than 180 years.