AP Photo
Nearly 40 civilians have been killed in Myanmar in less than two weeks as the result of assassinations by both pro- and anti-junta forces, prompting rights groups to warn that the violence will likely worsen unless the military yields to popular demand and hands power back to a civilian government.
The killings took place during the 12 days between June 19 and 30, and included local administrators, pro-military informants, and local militia fighters, according to research by RFA’s Myanmar Service and the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
Myanmar’s military overthrew the country’s democratically elected civilian government on Feb. 1 and has violently cracked down on widespread protests. Military leaders say a landslide victory by the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) in the country’s November 2020 elections was the result of widespread voter fraud but have yet to produce any evidence of their claims.
RFA
Five popular comedians who fled Myanmar’s largest city Yangon to join an anti-coup militia said Thursday that they were compelled to take up arms because of the junta’s brutality and urged the public not to become complacent in its fight to regain power from the regime.
Toe Kyaw, Wyne Kyaw, Taing Kyaw, Pyi Kyaw, and Poe Lay recently gave up cracking jokes on stage in exchange for combat training in the Yoma jungles of Bago region. The five members of the Har Ngar Kaung (Five Ha-has) Comedy Group are the latest of several high-profile entertainers and artists to join a militia since the military ousted the country’s democratically elected civilian government in a Feb. 1 coup d’état.
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RFA
Myanmar’s junta released some 2,300 detainees mostly political prisoners charged with defamation as part of a nationwide amnesty on Wednesday, but the move was greeted with skepticism by critics who called it a stunt to gain international recognition following its February power grab.
The 2,296 detainees were freed from prisons in the capital Naypyidaw as well as all 14 of the country’s states and regions, and included journalists, protesters, and relief workers accused of violating Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code for defaming the military.
Aung Ye Ko, a reporter from 7 Days News, told RFA’s Myanmar Service he had been released 124 days after his Feb. 27 arrest while covering an anti-coup protest in the Hledan district of Myanmar’s largest city Yangon.
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