USDP member and former local administrator shot and killed in Mohnyin

Aye Min, a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and a former village administrator in Mohnyin, Kachin State, was shot on Tuesday, according to family members and locals.

The 49-year-old was shot in the left side of his back on his way from the Nam Kham market at 5am. He died while undergoing treatment at the Myitkyina military hospital on Wednesday morning.

“He was on his way back after dropping his sister off at the market. He was shot by two men on a motorbike near our home, apparently. They were wearing raincoats,” Thin Thin Aye, his wife, said, calling his murder “unfair.”

Aye Min, whose father was a military veteran who led pro-military rallies, served as an administrator for the town of Nam Mar from 2005 until 2012 under the military regime headed by Than Shwe.

Locals told Myanmar Now that Aye Min had been believed to be acting as an informant to the military since the coup, and had been working with “Pyu Saw Htee,” a group said to have been formed to counter the anti-junta resistance movement.

“Times are hard and he chose to be a Pyu Saw Htee leader. That’s what I heard. He went to trainings in the military and swore at people banging pots. He also informed them about protests,” a local source said.

Another Mohnyin local said they were not aware of Aye Min’s involvement with Pyu Saw Htee.

“Before the coup and politics became intertwined with affairs in the neighbourhood, he had a lot of friends. I was friends with him. But for a long time, the people in his ward have been suspicious of him being an informant,” the local said, adding that he had heard USDP members and ultranationalists had formed a Pyu Saw Htee group, but not that Aye Min was part of it.

Myanmar Now has was not able to confirm these claims, but Aye Min’s wife denied the allegations.

“They’re just accusations. My husband was not an informant. But he’s always worked closely with the military since his time as an administrator and there are always soldiers coming in and out. It’s been this way since his retirement,” Thin Thin Aye said.

After his retirement in 2012 for health reasons, Aye Min became a USDP member, she added.

“After his retirement, he was urged to become a member. But he was never active, he barely went to meetings,” Thin Thin Aye explained, calling his murder “unfair.”

Aye Min is survived by his wife and three children, with his funeral scheduled for Friday.

Since early May, administrators appointed by the military council, as well as informants, USDP members and ultranationalists have been frequently assassinated by unidentified assailants.

On Wednesday, Ye Htun, a military-appointed ward administrator in Tantsi, Sagaing Region was shot and killed. Sai Lin Zaw, a member of the Hlaing Tharyar Township administration team in Yangon, was also killed one day earlier.

Three administrators and one secretary were killed in Myingyan District in Mandalay on May 30 and May 31. Forty-five-year-old Myo Lwin, a ward administrator for Lanmadaw 8th Street in Yangon, was shot in the head on May 18.

On May 17, Myint Swe, chair of the USDP branch in Bilin Township, Mon State, was shot in the head and killed.