Since the coup on 1 February 2021 till 31 May 2022, 114 people have been sentenced to death for resisting the coup, according to the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar).
Those sentenced to death include two boys under the age of 18, according to ISP-Myanmar.
Two of those sentenced to death are Phyo Zeya, a former National League for Democracy (NLD) member of Parliament (MP) and Thaw Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Ko Jimmy an 88 Generation activist who had previously been imprisoned for his part in anti-government protests, most recently between 2007 and 2012.
On 18 November, soldiers and police arrested Phyo Zeya Thaw, 41, during a raid on a housing complex in Yangon’s Dagon Seikkan Township. A military court charged the former National League for Democracy legislator and hip-hop artist under the Counterterrorism Law and the Public Property Protection Act with leading deadly shootings on pro-military targets.
On 24 October 2021, soldiers arrested Ko Jimmy, 52, in Yangon’s North Dagon Township. The authorities had issued a warrant for his arrest on 13 February 2021, for allegedly inciting unrest and taking part in “terrorism”, both offenses under the Counterterrorism Law.
The soldiers severely beat Ko Jimmy during his arrest and tortured him in custody, his family said.
Both their appeals were rejected and on 2 June the junta Deputy Minister for Information said that the two men and two others, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw, who were convicted of killing an alleged military informant, had exhausted all avenues of appeal and would be hanged, but that no date had yet been set for their execution.
The military has not revealed where Phyo Zeya Thaw and Ko Jimmy are being held, and the men have not been seen since their arrests, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
The junta’s assertion that there was no chance of a reprieve for the men and that they would be executed caused an international outcry.
On 3 June a spokesperson for António Guterres, the secretary-general of the UN, said that the junta’s decision to execute the men violated Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states “Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person”, and says that everyone has the right to a public hearing and defence at an independent and impartial court.
In a statement on the US Embassy in Yangon’s Facebook page Ned Price, a spokesman for the U.S.
State Department said: “The United States strongly condemns the Burmese military regime’s reported plans to execute pro-democracy and opposition leaders, exemplifying the regime's disregard for human rights and the rule of law. We urge the release of all [those who have been] unjustly detained.'
The French Embassy in Yangon also issued a statement condemning the death sentences and calling for the release of all arbitrarily detained people, the cessation of junta violence and the establishment of all-inclusive dialogue.
The statement ended by saying: “France supports the Burmese people and salutes their courage in the face of the unchanging policy of terror implemented by the illegitimate military regime.”
On 6 June the junta Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release that confirmed that Phyo Zeya Thaw and Ko Jimmy would be executed because they “were proved to be masterminds of orchestrating full-scale terrorist attacks against innocent civilians to instil fear and disrupt peace and stability”.
It also accused the U.N, the U.S. and France of “abetting terrorism” with their “irresponsible and reckless” statements.
The Ministry also expressed its “utmost indignation” that the French embassy had referred to the junta as an illegitimate military regime “which is totally unacceptable to the government of Myanmar.”
No executions have been carried out in Myanmar for over 30 years, though the law remains on the statute books and the death sentence was still passed by the courts prior to the coup, according to the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Law website.
