UPDATED at 2:20 P.M. ET on 10-07-2024
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Zaw Myint Maung, a deputy leader of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, or NLD, died of cancer on Monday, the latest member of Myanmar’s embattled democracy movement to die in detention of the junta that ousted their government in 2021.
Zaw Myint Maung, 73, was an NLD vice chairman and chief minister of the Mandalay region before the 2021 coup. He had recently been transferred from Mandalay’s Obo Prison to Mandalay General Hospital, where he died, sources close to his family said.
“We have lost an important person for our party and for the country,” NLD Deputy Chairman Bo Bo Oo told Radio Free Asia, speaking from an undisclosed location.
“I would like to request that our party leaders and people who have been unjustly arrested be released as soon as possible to prevent such losses from happening without proper medical treatment in prisons.”
Zaw Myint Maung was a staunch Suu Kyi loyalist and among the first NLD politicians arrested on Feb. 1, 2021, when the military took power and ousted Suu Kyi's government after her party swept a Nov. 8, 2020, general election.
He was convicted of various charges including corruption, violating COVID-19 rules and election fraud, and jailed for 29 years. Democracy supporters and rights groups dismissed the charges.
Suu Kyi was sentenced on similar charges and initially jailed for 33 years though her sentence was reduced to 27 years. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate is believed to be in solitary confinement in prison in the capital, Naypyidaw, but her exact whereabouts are unknown.
About 2,000 other NLD members have been jailed by the military regime since the coup along with thousands of other democracy campaigners.
'Amnesty order'
The ruling military junta announced an “amnesty order” for Zaw Myint Maung before his death, according to state media.
RFA could not reach junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment.
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The NLD politician’s body was sent to his family’s home in Mandalay’s Pyigyitagon township for funeral services scheduled for Tuesday.
Mandalay medical doctor and former anti-coup protest leader Tay Za San told RFA that Zaw Myint Maung died too early because he did not receive proper medical treatment in prison.
“He was really killed by the military junta,” he said.
Others mourning his loss praised Zaw Myit Maung for his affable personality and his accomplishments.
“He had a good relationship with everyone,” said Myo Myint Nyein, a former political prisoner and friend.
A member of Mandalay’s literati described Zaw Myint Maung as a trusted NLD politician.
“As a chief minister of Mandalay region, he significantly developed Mandalay into an impressive city,” he said. “He performed his duties diligently, despite suffering from cancer. His death is a great loss for the people of Mandalay.”
The Delegation of the European Union to Myanmar expressed its condolences to the family and said that the pardon by the military junta was not a gesture of genuine clemency.
It also called for the unconditional and immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained and Myanmar’s return to a democratic path as essential prerequisites for peace and reconciliation.
The embassies of the United Kingdom, Canada and India issued similar statements.
Deaths in prison
Rights groups and activists have accused the junta of denying medical treatment to prisoners. The junta denies mistreating prisoners.
A top NLD adviser to Suu Kyi, Nyan Win, died from COVID-19 in prison in 2021. A year later, the junta executed former NLD lawmaker Phyo Zayar Taw, after sentencing him to death for treason and terrorism.
Another huge loss for the NLD was the death on June 1 of the patron of the democracy movement, Tin Oo, at the age of 98. A former army commander-in-chief who founded the NLD with Suu Kyi in 1988, Tin Oo had stepped back from politics because of frail health and was not in detention at the time of his death.
A medical doctor, Zaw Myint Maung was first elected to parliament as an NLD member in 1990, a vote the military held two years after crushing a pro-democracy uprising.
The NLD swept to victory, even though Suu Kyi was under house arrest, but the military ignored the result and rounded up NLD members, including Zaw Myint Maung, who was jailed for 19 years in Kachin state’s Myitkyina Prison.
He won a by-election in 2012, early in a decade-long period of reform, and was again elected in a landmark win by the NLD in 2015, when Suu Kyi went on to form a government. He also won a seat in the 2020 election even though he had been diagnosed with leukemia the previous year, sources close to the family said.
Junta authorities dissolved the NLD last year after the party failed to meet a deadline to register under a strict new electoral law.
Translated by Aung Naing for RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan, Mike Firn and Roseanne Gerin.
The story was updated to include information about the amnesty order and reactions to Zaw Myint Maung's death.