Myo Min Zaw
Encyclopedia
Myo Min Zaw is a currently-imprisoned Burmese democracy activist considered a prisoner of conscience
Prisoner of conscience
Prisoner of conscience is a term defined in Peter Benenson's 1961 article "The Forgotten Prisoners" often used by the human rights group Amnesty International. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, or political views...

 by Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

.

Myo Min Zaw studied English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 at the University of Yangon
University of Yangon
Yangon University , located in Kamayut, Yangon, is the oldest and most well-known university in Myanmar. The university offers mainly graduate degree programs in liberal arts, sciences and law...

, where he became active in the pro-democracy group All Burma Federation of Student Unions
All Burma Federation of Student Unions
The All Burma Federation of Student Unions is the umbrella organisation for all the student unions in Burma and is an active voice for academic freedoms and student rights throughout the country...

 (ABFSU). In December 1996, he participated in a student protest, and following the closing of Burma's universities, remaining involved in the pro-democracy movement.

On 12 September 1998, he was arrested along with Ko Aye Aung for distributing fliers and organizing student demonstrations in Yangon
Yangon
Yangon is a former capital of Burma and the capital of Yangon Region . Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of over four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial...

. Both Ko Aye Aung and Myo Min Zaw alleged that they were subsequently tortured in custody. At a press conference on 8 October 1998, the government announced that they had discovered a plot by Myo Min Zaw to “create disturbances in support of the National League for Democracy
National League for Democracy
The National League for Democracy is a Burmese political party founded on 27 September 1988. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi serves as its General Secretary. The party won a substantial parliamentary majority in the 1990 Burmese general election. However, the ruling military junta...

 demand to convene parliament and to object to the ongoing university and college examinations”. Ko Aye Aung and Myo Min Zaw were reportedly denied legal representation at their trial, which was held in Insein prison
Insein Prison
Insein Prison is located in Yangon Division, near Yangon , the old capital of Myanmar. It is run by the military junta of Myanmar, the State Peace and Development Council, and used largely to repress political dissidents....

; nor, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Assistance Association of Political Prisoners is an independent non-profit organisation founded by Burmese former political prisoners living in exile...

, were they allowed to speak in their own defense. Amnesty International further argued that the fairness of their trial was compromised by the press conference given by Burmese officials, in which they presumed the guilt of the two detainees in advance of their trial. Both men were found guilty, and the court ordered that the sentences for each charge must be served cumulatively, rather than concurrently. As a result, Ko Aye Aung was sentenced to a 59-year prison term, which he is currently serving in Kale prison in Burma's northwestern Sagaing Region; Myo Min Zaw was sentenced to 52 years, which he is currently serving in Bassein (Pathein) Prison, East Bassein Township
Pathein Township
Pathein Township is a township of Pathein District in the Ayeyawady Division of Burma . The administrative seat is the town of Pathein.-Communities:...

, Irrawaddy Division.

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