Myanmar’s military regime has executed four individuals, including a deposed pro-democracy lawmaker and a prominent activist, in its first use of the death penalty in more than three decades, state media reported Monday.
Kyaw Min Yu, also known as Jimmy, a leader of the activist group that opposed former dictator Ne Win, and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a civilian lawmaker overthrown in last year’s coup, were among the four. They were charged with treason and terrorism by a military tribunal this year and were executed for carrying out “brutal and inhumane terror acts such as murdering many innocent people,” according to Global New Light of Myanmar, a state-owned English daily.
The executions are the first to be carried out in the overwhelmingly Buddhist Southeast Asian nation since 1988 and follow some 2,000 extra-judicial civilian killings by military forces in less than 18 months, according to estimates last month by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
