A political prisoner, U Sein Win, was tortured to death by the Myanmar junta in Myingyan Prison in Mandalay Region.

One of U Sein Win’s relatives told Mizzima that prison officers had contacted the family on 2 July and told them that he had died from a ruptured blood vessel in his stomach.

The relative said: “They [prison officials] didn’t give the body back to the family, they just called the family when it was due to be cremated. They had already carried out an autopsy. There were bruises on his right arm and neck.”

Sein Win was arrested in 2022, accused of being associated with people’s defence forces and sentenced to three years imprisonment for violating Section 505 (a) of the penal code.

According to friends, Sein Win was just an ordinary villager who was in good health and did not suffer from any heart or stomach health issues.

Ko Thike Htun Oo, an official from the Myanmar Political Prisoners Network (PPN) said: “He was amongst the prisoners who were pretty badly tortured in Myingyan Prison. There were four or five of them including him. They were usually tortured in their prison cell.”

According to reports, junta soldiers started torturing political prisoners in Myingyan Prison on 21 May 2023, accusing them of communicating with PDFs.

No medical treatment has been provided to tortured prisoners in Myingyan Prison.

Also, on 30 June this year, 14 prisoners were taken from Myingyan Prison to the Light Infantry Battalion (15) base in Myingyan Town to be tortured, according to Ko Thike Htun Oo. He said the 14 are still being held at the base but are due to be transferred to Magway Central Prison and Thetyet Prison.

According to a representative of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), abuse of prisoners has risen throughout Myanmar since the February 2021 coup.

He said: “The kind of abuse that is happening is against the law. Since the terrorist military, led by Min Aung Hlaing, seized power on 1 February 2021 everything they have done has been illegal. On top of that, they unjustly arrest and sentence people who are against them.”

He added that junta personnel are purposefully abusing political prisoners and that many political prisoners are dying as a result of being tortured during interrogation or whilst in prison.

The Myanmar junta has arrested 23,674 people since the 2021 coup and of those, 19,311 were still being detained as of 4 July, according to the AAPP.