Myanmar Spring Chronicle – July 20 Viewpoint
(MoeMaKa, July 21, 2025)
Political Prisoners Dying in Custody
Wut Yay Aung, a 25-year-old executive member of the Dagon University Students’ Union, passed away on July 20 while serving time in Insein Prison after suffering from a serious illness. According to her colleagues, she was arrested in September 2021 and sentenced to three years under Penal Code Section 505(a). Additional charges were later filed under the Counter-Terrorism Law, extending her total sentence to seven years.
Reports from fellow activists and prison sources suggest that she sustained brain trauma due to beatings and torture during initial military interrogation. Although the public lacks complete information about the extent of torture and abuse against political prisoners, available evidence indicates that conditions in prisons and interrogation centers under the current military junta are harsher and more brutal than any previous regimes.
From the early days following the 2021 coup, countless cases emerged of peaceful protesters being shot, beaten, and detained — with some dying soon after arrest. Well-known examples include:
-
U Khin Maung Latt, an NLD party organizer from Kyaukta Township, who died overnight in custody.
-
U Zaw Myat Lin, the head of the Su Vocational School and NLD member from Shwepyithar, whose body was found a day after arrest.
In the over four years since the coup, dozens of political prisoners have reportedly died in military custody, police stations, and prisons. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), by October 2023, over 100 political prisoners had died in detention — many due to lack of medical care, while others succumbed to illnesses contracted in prison even after their release.
Conditions in today’s military-run prisons and interrogation centers are arguably more severe than under previous military governments, such as the Burma Socialist Programme Party era or post-1988 regimes.
Despite the numerous deaths in custody — many caused by beatings, torture, and neglect — no one has been held accountable. The absence of investigations or prosecutions reveals that the junta not only targets armed resistance groups and urban guerrillas, but also permits — and in effect condones — extreme abuses against peaceful political dissenters.
International organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have not been allowed access to monitor or assist detainees in prisons — reflecting the regime’s blatant disregard for international norms and humanitarian law.
In previous years, reports emerged of political prisoners being taken out of prison under false pretenses and executed. Following attempted escapes by detainees during court appearances — sometimes involving attacks on guards and weapon seizures — some were extrajudicially executed, as seen in prisons such as Daik-U and Taungoo.
Other documented abuses over the last four years include:
-
Prison riots being violently suppressed, with inmates beaten or shot.
-
Political prisoners denied adequate medical treatment, leading to preventable deaths.
Conditions in prisons have worsened dramatically — unlike any previous period in Myanmar’s modern history. This deterioration has discouraged political organizing in urban areas and pushed more young people to flee to resistance-held territories or to join armed struggle.
On the other hand, in junta-controlled urban centers, activists’ families remain — while their comrades, fearing repression, are becoming less visible, and support networks are weakening.
Ultimately, the inhumanity of Myanmar’s prison system — rife with torture, denial of treatment, and unchecked brutality — is pushing many toward armed resistance, reinforcing the notion that only force can bring down the military dictatorship. This, sadly, may further entrench the cycle of violence and diminish space for peaceful political action.