Myanmar court sentences two to death for Ko Ni’s murder

A Myanmar court has sentenced two men to death for their role in a plot to assassinate Ko Ni, a legal adviser to the country’s de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The court on Friday found the gunman, Kyi Lin, guilty of premeditated murder and illegal weapons possession for the January 2017 shooting of Ko Ni in broad daylight at Yangon’s airport. Aung Win Zaw, an accomplice involved in planning the killing, was also sentenced to death. 

Myanmar has not killed a death-row inmate in several decades. 

At the time of his assassination, Ko Ni, a prominent member of Myanmar’s Muslim minority, was working on plans to amend or replace the country’s military-drafted constitution. 

Ko Ni pictured in Naypyitaw in February 2016 [File: Aung Shine Oo/AP Photo]

The lawyer’s murder was a major blow to Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which took office in 2016 promising to amend a charter that entrenches the generals’ power even as they take a back seat in the wake of decades of military rule. 

A third man, Zeyar Phyo, received a five-year sentence for his role in the conspiracy.

The prosecution accused him of providing roughly $80,000 for the plot. As he was led out of the courtroom in Yangon on Friday, Zeyar Phyo claimed he was innocent and “wasn’t involved at all”.

Aung Win Tun, a fourth defendant, received three years for harbouring Aung Win Zaw, his brother.

A fifth suspect, a retired lieutenant colonel named Aung Win Khine thought to be the crime’s mastermind, has evaded arrest. 

With reporting by Joshua Carroll in Yangon

SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies