Aung San Suu Kyi’s close friend Nyan Win dies in prison from Covid
YANGON – A close colleague and trusted friend of Myanmar’s one-time de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has died in prison of complications from COVID-19.
Nyan Win, 78, was a prominent politician and the former spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). He was transferred from the notorious Insein Prison to Yangon General Hospital, a doctor at the hospital said Tuesday (20). By then, she said, he was already in a critical condition.
“The COVID-19 situation in Yangon is very bad. It is especially bad for old people in prison. We are very sorry for him,” she said.
A relative told the Myanmar Now news agency that Nyan Win had suffered a great deal before his death. “The military is responsible for everything that happened.”
The politician had been in prison since his arrest alongside many other NLD members a few weeks after a military coup in February this year. He reportedly suffered from diabetes and kidney problems.
Suu Kyi remains under house arrest.
Officially, the junta puts the total number of deaths in the country from COVid-19 at 5,000.
-dap