A former parliamentarian for the elected National League for Democracy (NLD) administration was detained and interrogated earlier this month by resistance forces under the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG) after he was accused of collaborating with the junta.
Win Myint Aung, who was also an NLD central committee member, represented Sagaing Region’s Depayin Township in the Lower House in the 1990, 2015 and 2020 general elections and served as chair of the party in the township prior to the 2021 coup.
The NLD fired him and three other representatives from the party in March for allegedly abusing its authority and coordinating with the military council to arrange a meeting with imprisoned State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi late last year.
Win Myint Aung was arrested by a local People’s Defence Team near Mu Kan Gyi village, 22 miles southeast of Depayin, in early June. He has since been held in the custody of the Shwebo District People’s Defence Force (PDF), according to a spokesperson for the resistance group, which operates as part of the armed wing of the NUG.
The officer said that Win Myint Aung had “allegedly been collaborating with the junta” and that the PDF had been monitoring him for around one month.
He is accused of informing the military about the movements of resistance forces in Depayin.
Win Myint Aung is the first MP to have been arrested and questioned by anti-junta armed forces.
The military council attempted to arrest him in August 2021, more than six months after the coup, but were unable to locate him since he had already fled from his home in Hseng Pyin village. Instead, junta forces detained his wife, Khin Ohn Myint, his son, and his brother, San Lin.
He was later apprehended but eventually released.
In late November 2022, NLD party members Sandar Min and Toe Lwin met with Aung San Suu Kyi in junta custody in Naypyitaw, asking for permission to reopen party offices, register, and take part in military-controlled elections.
For his alleged role in setting up this meeting, the NLD dismissed Win Myint Aung—along with former Yangon Region chief minister Phyo Min Thein and Sandar Min and Toe Lwin—on March 3 this year.
