Members of the military council came to seal off the house of Mahn Johnny, an elected National League for Democracy (NLD) parliamentarian and chief minister of Ayeyarwady Region, on Sunday, forcing his family to move.
A major and two soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 36 arrived at the house with a junta-appointed ward administrator at around 8pm and told the family they would have to move out by Wednesday morning, a source in the neighbourhood told Myanmar Now.
By Monday morning, Mahn Johnny’s two sons, two daughters-in-law, and a grandson had left the premises.
“They gave them some time to move. I think we could even thank them for not detaining them right away,” the source said, adding that the situation was “really depressing.”
After nearly 80-year-old Mahn Johnny publicly announced in August that he was undergoing military training in Karen State to fight back against the junta, the military council began persecuting his family.
Soldiers from LIB 36 raided his home in Kyonpaw on August 29, confiscating a car and three mobile phones and placing his family under surveillance, restricting their movements.
Mahn Johnny, who is also a member of the NLD’s central executive committee, was elected as a parliamentarian representing the party in four elections and by-elections in 1990, 2012, 2015 and 2020, respectively.
He has been wanted by the military since, following the February 1 coup, they abolished the results of the 2020 election—in which he was elected as the Upper House MP for Ayeyarwady’s Constituency 2.
The other three NLD parliamentarians elected alongside Mahn Johnny in Kyonpaw Township, for the Lower House and the regional legislature, are now working in collaboration with the coup regime.
The junta has been raiding the homes of and bringing criminal charges against those involved in the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), the National Unity Government (NUG) and the People’s Defence Forces (PDFs), all of which have been working to topple the military council since the coup.
On October 1, Myanmar army troops raided and sealed off a home and shop belonging to Thant Wai Kyaw, an NLD representative in the Sagaing regional parliament elected in both 2015 and 2020.
The Bahan Township, Yangon, home of CRPH secretary Tun Myint was also raided by the military in recent days.
“They’re even worse than the previous dictators. Their cruelty has reached an inhuman level. I can’t even find the words to describe it,” Tun Myint told Myanmar Now from hiding. “They really shouldn’t come after our belongings. I just hope they will pay for their crimes one day.”
The military council also sealed off the home of Dr Lian Hmung Sakhong, the NUG’s minister of federal affairs, in Chin State’s Hakha Township on Saturday.
Soe Thura Tun, the NUG minister of electricity and energy, told Myanmar Now that the military has been gathering the addresses and property lists of people affiliated with the NUG and the CRPH, presumably for further raids and seizure of their possessions.
Armed resistance to the military council has been escalating in recent months, with explosions and shootings regularly taking place in major cities such as Yangon and Mandalay.
The Myanmar army has been employing heavy weaponry, such as artillery fired during airstrikes, against resistance forces across the country, resulting in the destruction of homes and religious buildings, and the injury and death of civilians.
