Myanmar’s ousted president is being treated for an unspecified disease at Bago region’s Taungoo Prison, sources close to Win Myint and the prison told RFA on Monday.
Win Myint was arrested shortly after the Feb. 1, 2021 coup and has been sentenced to 12 years in prison in connection with eight cases brought against him by the junta regime.
A source close to the former president said a doctor was called in this month and fitted a urinary catheter.
“We don’t know what the cause of the disease is. We only know that a doctor from an outside hospital came to the cell where he is being held and inserted [a catheter],” said the person, who declined to be named for safety reasons.
Another source, who also requested anonymity, confirmed the doctor’s visit and said that Win Myint was “recovering” although he didn’t specify the illness.
The date of the doctor’s visit is also unclear due to problems receiving information on prisoners, although reports emerged on June 17.
RFA contacted Deputy Director General of the Prisons Department Naing Win but nobody responded to phone calls and emails.
Win Myint, 72, is a lawyer, and a member of the now-dissolved National League for Democracy since the party's formation in 1988. He won three seats for the party in the 1990, 2012 and 2015 elections and served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2016 to 2018.
On March 28, 2018 he received the most votes in parliament’s presidential election and became the tenth president of Myanmar until his arrest. He still serves as president of the shadow National Unity Government, although the NUG’s acting president is Duwa Lashi La.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.