The National Unity Government (NUG) said that it is worried that prisoners who have been sentenced to death will soon be executed, in a 26 July statement.
This followed the junta's execution of the four democracy activists: Kyaw Min Yu (Ko Jimmy), Phyo Zayar Thaw, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw, despite calls from the international community, including ASEAN, to not carry out the death sentences.
'There are people in prison who have been sentenced to death. They are in a situation where they could be executed at any time', said Nay Phone Latt, a NUG Press Office spokesperson.
“Although they have killed a lot of people in the past, they have now committed the greatest atrocity. Min Aung Hlaing and the other military leaders have chosen the most extreme way to maintain their power because they did this [carried out the executions] in the face of everyone's advice to not carry out the death sentences. to impose the death penalty'', he added.
NUG officials held an emergency meeting on 26 July, the day after the executions were announced and resolved to speed up the revolution. Acting President Duwa Lashi La and Union Prime Minister Mann Win Khaing Than attended.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) as of 28 July there are 76 prisoners on death row. There are also an additional 41 people who have been sentenced to death in absentia who are not imprisoned. In total, since the February 2021 coup, 117 people have been sentenced to death by the junta.
An AAPP statement on 25 July criticised the executions. It said: 'These four political prisoners were detained by an illegal and murderous junta. The trial was a kangaroo court. Any forced confessions the outcome of mental and physical abuse. Relatives and friends are in agony because of the actions of the Prison Department and junta leaders who have imposed an information blackout from inside the walls of Insein.'
It also criticised the prison authorities' decision not to release the men's remains as the law requires them to.
The UN, ASEAN and the international community denounced the executions.
