The wife of democracy veteran Ko Jimmy AKA Kyaw Min Yu has called in a statement for the Myanmar junta to be held accountable for his “unjust execution” in July and for the murder to be considered a war crime.

In a statement released on Facebook on 20 August, Ma Nilar Thein called on organizations and the international community to take action and warned of more possible executions.

Here is the personal Statement of Ma Nilar Thein on the execution of Ko Jimmy:

1. Since the SAC regime led by Min Aung Hlaing illegally seized the power of the nation, they have unlawfully killed so many people, and this “Death Penalty” punishment is also an unlawful act of murder and is a war crime.

2. The SAC regime never informed anything about Ko Jimmy from the time when he got arrested to the time that he was executed. And, he didn’t have any rights as a political-prisoners such as prison visits, receiving medicines and foods from the family, and legal representation from a lawyer. And, the trial was also a closed trial too and no one was able to access the trial.

3. A family member was allowed to have a Zoom Meeting with him for around 20 minutes, just a day before they carried out the execution. And, no one has informed about when and where they would carry out the execution. In addition to that, the SAC regime pretended as they would not yet carry out the execution.

4. The SAC has refused to return the dead body or any evidence that can prove the execution, back to the family since they have announced that “they have carried out the punishment” in the military-owned newspaper.

5. It is clear that the SAC has violated the rights of the prisoner that they executed, moreover, they have also violated the rights of the family even after the execution. This bluntly shows that the SAC has violated human rights and standard values of people by using arms and power.

6. I have learned through video records that a mob with around (50) people came to the houses of Ko Jimmy and Ko Phyo Zeyar Thaw on 27th July 2022. They stoned and threw eggs at the houses and shouted that they have lost their family members because of Ko Jimmy and Ko Phyo Zeyar Thaw.  We have confirmed that they don’t belong to any victims and they were the members of the USDP party, which is a subordinate organization under the terrorized SAC and members of religious extremist groups. And, media organizations and social media have expressed that this is just one of the agenda of the terrorized SAC. And, it was clear that the SAC had organized similar kinds of violence campaigns in the early time of the coup.

7. Since the coup in 2021, 76 political prisoners are under the death row and 41 political activists are death sentences under absentia. This sums up 117 people under the death row including underaged young people, university students and women. This is the time for the international community to pressure from all possible sides to stop such kind of inhumane unlawful killings.

8. This unjust action of execution bluntly insults all of us, including people of Myanmar and pro-democracy activists amid the international diplomatic missions and ASEAN Human Rights Organizations pressured the SAC not to carry out the execution.

9. I strongly urged all the governments and organizations from the international community to take more effective actions against the SAC since I heard about more potential executions as I don’t want to see any similar cases like my husband, Ko Jimmy in the future.

Ma Nilar Thein (Wife of Ko Jimmy)

88th Generation Peace and Open Society.