25 July 2004

A former political prisoner, the poet Kyi Tin Oo, who was released from prison on 26 March 2004, died of a heart attack at 6:30 yesterday morning, it is reported. He had suffered from high blood pressure, a heart condition and diabetes due to the torture he received while in detention.
Kyi Tin Oo, 60, had been arrested and detained twice, for 3 years and 7 years respectively, for his political activities under the former Burmese Socialist Program Party (BSPP) regime. He had been detained for several months during the time that the military seized state power a second time. On 1 March 1994, together with 5 other activists, he was arrested and accused of contacting the banned Communist Party of Burma. Later he was sentenced to 15 years in prison under Article 5 (J) of the Emergency Provision Act and under Article 17 (1) of the Unlawful Association Act.
Of his 4 children, his son Aung Kyaw Hein (aka) Kyaw Zaw, currently in Kalay Prison, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 1991.
During his 10-year prison term, his health deteriorated due to the severe torture he received at the time of his arrest and interrogation, and the poor conditions in the prison. He suffered from paralytic stroke a day prior to his death. When he passed away, his wife, the poet Ma Yi Wai, was on a trip to visit their son at the Kalay prison, it is reported.

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)