A leader within a sub-group claiming to represent the Monywa People’s Defence Force (PDF) told Myanmar Now that on Sunday they shot and killed the man who burnt a local poet alive in the Sagaing Region town in May.
Eyewitnesses described how Aung Ko Latt, an employee at a noodle factory in Monywa’s industrial zone, poured gasoline over the head of 60-year-old poet and political activist Sein Win before setting him on fire on May 14 in the factory. He died of his injuries later that day.
The PDF leader, who goes by the alias “Than Mani”—meaning “steel”—said that his group claimed responsibility for the murder of Aung Ko Latt, as well as one other person who allegedly attacked them with a sword during the assassination and was subsequently shot.
“We were only targeting the person who killed Sein Win. There was also another hostile individual nearby when we were dealing with the target. We had to kill them both,” he said.
The group found Aung Ko Latt in hiding at the Shwe Thamin monastery in Sagaing’s Salingyi Township.
To carry out the assassination, they reportedly collaborated with an entity called the Monywa Hero GYZ, one of four guerrilla groups working together against the junta, Than Mani said.
Following lethal military crackdowns on peaceful anti-coup protesters, local armed resistance groups formed as PDFs and other guerrilla groups to fight back against the junta. Their targets include military authorities and individuals accused of supporting, collaborating with, or acting as informants for the coup council.
Than Mani added that they had acted independently in avenging Sein Win.
“We aren’t working for Sein Win’s family. They didn’t send us to kill him. We acted of our own accord,” he told Myanmar Now.
Sein Win was an active participant and organiser of anti-coup protests and supported the Monywa youth movement, known as Generation Z.
He was a longtime supporter of the National League for Democracy, and had been active in politics since the 1988 pro-democracy uprising and campaigned for the party in the 1990 election.
He also led the Phan Mee Eain charity group—Burmese for “the glass lamp”—which had been assisting villages along the western banks of the Chindwin River in obtaining clean water.
Those who knew Sein Win said it was unlikely that the motive for his murder was personal, and was likely tied to his political stances and anti-dictatorship activities.
Officials at the local police station in Monywa could not be reached for comment.
