Thet Win Aung

Thet Win Aung ( born August 27, 1971, † 16 October 2006 in Mandalay ) was a Burmese student leader and political prisoner.

Political life

Since 1988, Thet Win Aung participated in protests against the military regime in Myanmar, formerly Burma, in part. He was Vice - Secretary General of the unauthorized student association Basic Education Student Union ( visitors ) in 1989. Because of these activities, he was rejected in September 1991 by the School and was for 9 months in prison, where he was tortured. After his release, he became a leading member of the underground student umbrella organization All Burma Federation of Student Unions ( ABFSU ), in 1994, its secretary general.

Thet Win Aung was involved in the organization of peaceful student demonstrations in Rangoon, where improvements in the education system and the release of political prisoners were demanded. He was arrested again in October 1998 and sentenced in January 1999 to 52 years in prison - the sentence was later increased to 59 years. Amnesty International drew attention to the fate of Thet Win Aungs, including with the action " letters against forgetting " in February 2000. Thet Win Aung occurred in 2002 in protest against the detention conditions in Kalay Prison, Sagaing in the hunger strike.

Death and reactions

Thet Win Aung died on 16 October 2006 at the Mandalay prison at the age of 34 years, probably from the effects of torture that have been supplied to him during his detention. His health was considered bad because he also suffered from other diseases (malaria ), but it further medical assistance was refused from the outside. The Burmese authorities had his brother Ko Pyone Cho arrested on September 30, 2006, which is also active in the student movement. The father of two students, Win Maung, speculated that Thet Win Aung died of a heart attack after he had heard of the arrest of his brother. About the situation of Ko Pyone Cho himself, who sits in solitary confinement, the family had in October still no information.

On 22 October 2006, the family and about 1,000 sympathizers and friends Thet Win Aungs imaginary in a Buddhist ceremony in Yangon - under the watchful eye of the Secret Service. Burmese exiles in New Delhi and London also declared their solidarity.

Some European governments, including Norway and France, condemned his death officially and demanded that the Burmese government an investigation into the cause of death. Earlier, the European Union had already called Thet Win Aung release on humanitarian grounds, which was rejected by Myanmar.