Bangkok — Zaw Myint Maung, a senior member of Myanmar’s former ruling party arrested during the 2021 military takeover, died Monday while serving a prison sentence that was considered politically motivated. He was 72.


He was a close colleague of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and spokesperson of her National League for Democracy party. He had been a second vice president and chief minister of the central Mandalay region before the army seized control of the government in 2021, arresting him, Suu Kyi and many top members of her NLD party and government.


Zaw Myint Maung had been jailed at least twice under previous governments for his political activities.


He had had leukemia since 2019. His death was confirmed by Tun Kyi, a party colleague from Mandalay, and another friend, who insisted on anonymity for fear of being punished by the authorities.


In a statement expressing condolences, the National Unity Government, the main shadow opposition group organizing against army rule, lauded Zaw Myint Maung for being “unwaveringly committed to the democratic cause, fighting alongside the people and other democratic forces to dismantle military dictatorship.”


The NLD won a landslide victory in Myanmar's 2020 election, but the army seized power Feb. 1, 2021, the day it was supposed to begin a second five-year term in office. The country now is enmeshed in civil war between the military and pro-democracy forces allied with armed ethnic minority groups.


Zaw Myint Maung was serving a prison sentence of 29 years after being convicted in closed court in 2021 and 2022 on charges of violating coronavirus restrictions, corruption, sedition and election fraud. The charges are similar to those against other NLD members, including Suu Kyi, and are widely regarded as having been fabricated to sideline the party and legitimize the military's takeover.


Zaw Myint Maung often was transferred to Mandalay General Hospital from Obo prison to be treated for his condition.


The friends who confirmed his death said prison officials came to the hospital Sunday to read Zaw Myint Maung an official letter saying the military had granted him amnesty. A copy of the purported letter posted on social media said the amnesty was granted as an act of leniency and compassion.


He was not the first senior NLD member to die after being imprisoned by the military government.


Nyan Win, who had been a member of the NLD central executive committee as well as a confidante of Suu Kyi, died in July 2021 after getting COVID-19 in Insein prison in Yangon. 


The NLD was dissolved along with 39 other political parties in 2023 for failing to reapply under a new party registration law. The military has said there will be an election next year but has not set a date.

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