National League for Democracy member dies during junta interrogation

Junta troops killed a member of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy who had been held for two days in the country’s central Mandalay region, according to family members.

Soldiers arrested Myo Linn, 54, at his home in Myittha township’s Htein Kan Gyi village on Jan. 3, residents told RFA, saying he was detained for no apparent reason.

Two days later authorities told his family Myo Linn had fallen ill and died.

The family were allowed to see the body but it was not released by the junta. One of Myo Linn’s relatives, who didn’t want to be named for security reasons, said his body had wounds all over.

“His family members were informed of his illness on the fifth but Myo Linn had already died,” the relative said. “When the family members saw him he had wounds on his hands, knees and feet, and there was a large hole in his head.”

The family held a ceremony for Myo Linn in his home village on Wednesday.

Calls by RFA to the junta spokesman for Mandalay region, Thein Htay, seeking comment on his death went unanswered.

The National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in national elections in 2020 but the military ousted the NLD-led government in February the following year.

Since then the junta has arrested more than 1,200 party members and lawmakers.

The party’s human rights department said last September that 67 members, including two former members of parliament, had died in prison or during interrogation.

The junta has killed 2,725 people since the 2021 coup, according to data released Wednesday by Thailand-based human rights organization the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.