Myanmar lawmaker from Suu Kyi’s party sentenced to death

Bangkok, Jan 22 (EFE).-Myanmar’s military junta has handed death sentences to a former lawmaker from the National League of Democracy – the party of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi – and another activist, media reports said on Saturday.

Ex-lawmaker Phyo Zeyar Thaw and activist Kyaw Min Yu, known as Ko Jimmy, were sentenced to death on Friday for violating the anti-terror law, having been accused of planning attacks against the junta’s forces, according to a statement cited by local daily Myanmar Now.

Phyo Zayar Thaw, who is also a famous hip-hop singer, had been accused of being the mastermind behind several attacks against the military regime in Yangon – the country’s largest city – that took place in recent months, apart from storing ammunition, grenades and explosives in two apartments.

At least 1,488 people have been killed in the brutal repression unleased by the Myanmar police and soldiers since last year’s coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which has put the number of arrested dissidents at 11,665, including Suu Kyi herself.

The ousted Nobel Peace Laureate, who has been under arrest since the first day of the coup, has been sentenced to six years in prison and has several other charges pending, which could lead to her jail term being extended.

The military coup plunged Myanmar in a deep political, social and economic crisis, triggered a spiral of violence as new civilian militias came into existence, aggravating ethnic conflicts that have already raged in the country for decades.

The military justified the coup citing massive electoral fraud in the polls held in November 2020, in which Suu Kyi’s party registered a landslide victory, just like 2015, in a result backed by international observers. EFE

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