Kyaw Min Yu (Burmese: ကျော်မင်းယု; also known as Ko Jimmy; 13 February 1969 – 23 July 2022) was a Burmese writer, political prisoner, and a member of the 88 Generation Students Group. He was executed in July 2022[2] after being sentenced to death for activism against the junta that seized power in a coup in 2021.[3]
Career
Activism
Kyaw Min Yu rose to prominence during the 8888 Uprising, as a student activist.[4][5] He was imprisoned for 15 years, from 1988 to 2003, for participating in the 8888 Uprising,[6] and later spent another five years in prison after protesting fuel price hikes with the 88 Generation Students Group in August 2007.[7]
Writing
He wrote the self-help book Making Friendship (မိတ်ဖြစ်ဆွေဖြစ်), which became a bestseller, in 2005.[8] On 6 September 2012, he published a novel, The Moon in Inle Lake (လမင်းဆန္ဒာအင်းလေးကန်), which had been written in 2010 during a prison sentence in Taunggyi.[8] While serving a sentence in Taunggyi, he wrote a number of political post-modern short stories, published in Japan, under the pen name Pan Pu Lwin Pyin.[8] Ko Jimmy translated numerous novels, including Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code, into Burmese while in prison.[8]
He was married to Nilar Thein, a political activist.[16] They met while incarcerated after the 8888 Uprising and wedded after they were both released in 2004.[15] The couple have a daughter, Phyu Nay Kyi Min Yu.[17]
Death
Yu was 53 years old when he was executed in July 2022.[2][15][18]
On 28 July 2022, the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and the European Union released a statement strongly condemning Kyaw Min Yu's execution by the military junta.[19]
