The four had been convicted of “brutal and inhumane acts of terror” and the executions followed “prison procedures”, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar claimed, without specifying how or when they were executed. carried out.
Since the military coup of February 1, 2021, dozens of opponents of the junta have been sentenced to death, but no executions have taken place so far.
Phyo Zeya Thaw, 41, a former member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), was arrested in November and convicted in January of violating the anti-terrorism law.
This pioneer of hip-hop in Burma, whose lyrics already criticized the army in the early 2000s, had experienced prison in 2008 for belonging to an illegal organization and possession of foreign currency.
He won a seat as a deputy in the 2015 elections, during the transition between military power and a civilian government.
The junta accused him of orchestrating several attacks against the regime, including an attack on a train in which five policemen were killed last August in Yangon.
Kyaw Min Yu, 53, known as “Jimmy”, was a writer and longtime opponent of the military, famous for his role in the 1988 student uprising against the then military junta. He was arrested in October and convicted in January.
The other two prisoners executed are two men accused of killing a woman they suspected of being a junta informant.
– “Vague offenses” –
The junta had announced last month that it intended to carry out these executions, attracting a shower of international condemnations. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had denounced “a flagrant violation of the right to life, liberty and security of persons”.
The last execution in Burma dates back to 1988, according to a report by United Nations experts last June, which counted 114 death sentences since the coup.
These experts had pointed out that martial law granted the military the possibility of pronouncing the death penalty for 23 “vague and broadly defined offenses”, and in practice for any criticism against power.
They had warned that executions could accelerate if the international community did not react.
The four executions announced Monday are “a scandalous act” which “will create political shock waves, now and for a long time”, reacted on Twitter Richard Horsey, Burma expert with the International Crisis Group (ICG).
These executions risk increasing the international isolation of the Burmese military, who took power by force on February 1, 2021 under the pretext of alleged fraud in the previous year’s elections, won overwhelmingly by the NLD.
The junta has since continued a bloody crackdown, with more than 2,000 civilians killed and more than 15,000 arrested since the coup, according to a local NGO.
Among those arrested is former leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, who faces multiple charges that could land her up to 150 years in prison in total.