Published on June 09, 2022
- As of June 09, 2022, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a Burmese human rights advocacy organization, reported that 1,924 individuals have been killed, 14,055 individuals arrested, and nearly 11,000 individuals are still detained by the Burmese military since the coup.
- Political Developments
- On June 08, 2022, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) gathered in Naypyitaw for its annual central committee meeting. With 400 members in attendance on the first day of its two-day meeting, USDP’s spokesperson stated that the meeting will be important for reforming and potential leadership shakeup.
- On June 07, 2022, the NUG announced the formation of its police force to diminish the junta’s efforts to gain legitimacy and govern the country since the coup. Through this step, the NUG aims to take more charge in enforcing the law in the country and to take lawful action against the terrorist military junta for its human rights abuses.
- On June 03, 2022, the Burmese military announced that they will execute four anti-coup activists including Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former NLD lawmaker and Ko Jimmy, a prominent democracy activist. Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw, and Ko Jimmy were both sentenced to death in January 2022 by the junta for supposedly breaking anti-terrorism laws. Their appeals to amend their sentences were rejected by the junta court. No date has been set for the execution. Many actors including Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and 199 international, regional, and Burmese organizations have expressed concerns and condemned the order of execution.
- A court in Myanmar ruled on June 03, 2022, that they had submitted enough evidence for the trial of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on election fraud charge to continue. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has already been sentenced to 11 years in prison. This charge was filed last November by the state Election Commission whose members were appointed by the military junta after dismissing the commission’s previous members.
- In the last week of May 2022, the junta pressed corruption and abuse of power charges against ousted officials in the Yangon Regional NLD government. These officials include former Yangon agriculture, livestock, forestry and energy minister U Han Tun, mayor U Maung Maung, former deputy mayor U Soe Lwin, Yangon City Development Committee secretary Daw Hlaing Maw Oo, and joint secretary U Than. However, chief minister U Phyo Min Thein, who testified against State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was spared from these charges.
- Ground Situation
- As of May 23, 2022, UNICEF reported that 694,300 civilians have been internally displaced and 40,200 people fled to neighboring countries since the 2021 coup.
- On June 07, 2022, the Southern Pauk People’s Defence Force (PDF) and other local resistance groups in Magway Region’s Pauk Township attacked and destroyed a junta police station.
- On June 06, 2022, six people were shot and killed by junta forces in Sagaing Region’s Myinmu Township. Junta forces opened fire on a group of 30 civilians after ordering them to run.
- As of June 06, 2022, the Institute for Strategy and Policy – Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar), a local Burmese think tank, reported that 209 individuals have been given death or life imprisonment sentences by the junta courts. 202 of those individuals are sentenced in the Yangon Region with the remaining seven sentenced in the Irrawaddy Region.
- On the weekend of May 28 and 29, the junta’s military conducted airstrikes and destroyed ten villages in five townships in Sagaing Region. Junta troops burned hundreds of homes and forced thousands to flee.
- On May 26, 2022, six bodies of civilians who were taken as hostages and used as human shields by the junta forces were found in Magway Region’s Myaing Township. Each of the victims showed signs of abuse and gunshot wounds.
- International Responses
- U.S. State Department Counselor Derek Chollet is traveling to Thailand, Singapore, and Brunei during the second week of June. In each of these stops, Counselor Chollet will be discussing a range of issues in Burma with senior officials from these countries.
- On June 06, 2022, the junta’s Foreign Ministry protested and expressed “indignation” against France’s condemnation of the recent execution announcement of the four pro-democracy activists and for referring to the junta as an “illegitimate military regime.”
- In the last week of May 2022, the NUG and several EAOs have raised concerns over ASEAN and the UN’s aid delivery plan only through the junta-controlled channels.
- Others
- On June 02, 2022, the junta reopened basic education schools across the country for the 2022-2023 academic year. Student enrollment saw an increase compared to last year when the pandemic and the teacher boycott of the military regime kept many students at home. Although online learning has become more prominent as an alternative learning tool, lack of internet access, and constant blackouts have led to parents feeling that their children need to return to formal education, despite their opposition to the junta. Countering the junta’s attempt to assume normalcy and legitimacy, dozens of schools in Myaing Township in the Northern Magway Region have opened under the authority of the National Unity Government. Ko Aye Min Win, a teacher and member of the NUG’s township education board, has reported that there are 11,333 students enrolled with 352 CDM teachers assisted by 872 volunteer teachers.