Guerrilla fighters assassinate prime election official in Myanmar’s Yangon

By Associated Press: A main election official in Myanmar was fatally shot in his vehicle in Yangon, the nation’s industrial capital, inside the latest assault attributed to militants towards military rule.

Sai Kyaw Thu, deputy director-general of the military-appointed Union Election Commission, was shot plenty of events on Saturday, in step with the military’s information office, media research and an announcement of accountability from an metropolis guerrilla group.

The information office on Sunday acknowledged the assault was carried out by the People’s Defense Force, the loosely organized armed wing of the pro-democracy National Unity Government, an underground group that opposes the military-installed authorities that was established when the navy seized vitality two years up to now.

Many opposition forces along with native People’s Defense Force groups operate autonomously from the National Unity Government nonetheless the military labels all of them as “terrorists.”

‘MISSION ACCOMPLISHED’

A resistance group calling itself “For The Yangon” acknowledged it carried out the assault on Sai Kyaw Thu, a former lieutenant colonel. It declared “Mission: Accomplished” in a Facebook publish on Saturday evening that was illustrated with three footage of their objective.

Sai Kyaw Thu is believed to be basically probably the most senior official of the Election Commission to be shot as a result of the navy seized vitality on Feb. 1, 2021, from the elected authorities of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Resistance groups earlier this 12 months tried to disrupt preparations for a model new election the military had promised by attacking personnel conducting a inhabitants survey that might probably be used to assemble voter rolls and totally different low-level election staff. Plans for the polls, whose date was on no account set, had been set once more indefinitely in February when the military authorities launched it was extending a state of emergency ensuing from questions of safety.

TARGETED KILLINGS

Urban guerrillas have carried out many targeted killings, acts of arson and small bombings. Victims included officers and members of the military and their cronies, along with people believed to be informers or military collaborators.

In November 2021, a former navy officer who was the chief finance officer of Myanmar’s military-linked Mytel telecommunications agency was fatally shot on a Yangon avenue. Than Than Swe, then a deputy governor of Myanmar’s Central Bank, was shot at her home in Yangon in April 2022. She survived and was promoted to the monetary establishment governor.

Most simply these days, a veteran firm lawyer accused of serving to military leaders was shot lifeless in Yangon by self-proclaimed metropolis guerrillas in March.

After its takeover, the navy clamped down harshly on opponents inside the cities, arresting a whole bunch and using deadly stress even in opposition to nonviolent demonstrators. The repression, which has now accounted for larger than 3,400 civilian deaths, triggered widespread armed resistance.

The military dismissed the members of the sooner election payment — which had ratified the victory of Suu Kyi’s event in a November 2020 fundamental election — and appointed new ones. It moreover detained plenty of members of the outdated payment, and in step with research in neutral Myanmar media, pressured them to say there had been election fraud.

PROSECUTION OF SUU KYI

The new military-appointed payment declared the 2020 election outcomes invalid and prosecuted Suu Kyi and 15 totally different senior political figures for alleged fraud.

In the assertion, “For The Yangon” claimed Sai Kyaw Thu had been a plaintiff inside the election fraud case in opposition to Suu Kyi. She and ousted President Win Myint and the earlier minister of the president’s office, Min Thu, acquired three-year sentences in September ultimate 12 months in that case.

A member of guerrilla group acknowledged in a textual content material message on Sunday that Sai Kyaw Thu was assassinated “for being the deputy director-general of the illegal election commission of the military council, which disrespected the votes of the people in 2020 general election and abused the people unjustly, and also for being the one who falsely prosecuted President Win Myint and Aung San Suu Kyi as an accessory of the military council.”

“The one who insults the public will be punished by the people,” acknowledged the member of group, who spoke on state of affairs of anonymity because of he fears arrest by the authorities.

According to research in Myanmar’s neutral media, Sai Kyaw Thu was cross-examined as a prosecution witness inside the trials in opposition to Suu Kyi ultimate 12 months.

ALSO READ | At least 100 killed in air strike by Myanmar junta on Pazigyi village

ALSO READ | New satellite tv for pc television for computer pics reignite Chinese ‘spy base’ suspicion at Myanmar’s Coco Islands