Date August 26, 2004

August 26, 2004 is the fourth anniversary of Ko Win Bo's death. He was a political prisoner, who was brutally beaten to death in Moulmine Prison.
Ko Win Bo, a former army captain, was arrested on the way back from the Venerable Thu Mingalar Linkarra of Kabaaye Maha Gandharyone Monastery. He went there to deliver a petition from the Head Monk of the Shwe Kyin Sect which included one thousand monks' signatures and was intended for Senior General Than Shwe, U Ne Win and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The petition included the

following demands:
(1) People were very deprived and facing many kinds of troubles because of the current political situations and its processes and inflation. Senior General Than Shwe, U Nay Win and Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi were advised to have dialogues to better the country's future without hatred and without bearing a grudge.
(2) All political prisoners should be given amnesty in the year 2000.The Shwe Kyin Sect is the strictest religious organization. It teaches and disciplines the monks to obey all the rules of Buddha
(vinaya patimokkha). Normally, monks from the sect were not involved in politics, even during the 1988 people's uprising. The SPDC was worried about the sect's participation in politics, which encourages other monks from the whole country to participate. Consequently, the SPDC asked the head monk of Shwe Kyin Sect to stop their activities. However Ko Win Bo was arrested for his role as messenger. He was sentenced to twenty one years imprisonment under Article 5 (J) of the Emergency Provision Act and Article 17 (20) of the Printers and Publishers Act.

These are the events leading up to his murder:
(1) He was moved to Moulmein prison together with some other prisoners from Insein prison on July 6, 2000. He quarreled with Sergeant Chit Kyaw, who was the assigned prison guard, during jail locked time, at about 5:30 pm on August 15, 2000. Coincidentally in the same evening two convicts escaped from the prison.
(2) There was a rape case in Moulmine prison on August 18, 2000. Maung Aye, a prisoner who was the disciplinary in-charge, raped a prisoner who was a deserter. Ko Win Bo was informed about this by the victim. Once he became aware of this case, he requested Sergeant Chit Kyaw to let him see the warden of the jail. One intelligence member from Military Intelligence (5) listened while he was meeting and complaining to prison authorities, including Sergeant Chit Kyaw, on behalf of the rape victim. Maung Aye was then finally sent to a punishment cell for the rape he committed.
(3) Maung Aye shouted abuse the whole night, but no guard stopped him. Ko Win Bo complained to the assigned Sergeant Chit Kyaw and denounced their inability to follow rules and regulations
evenly. The junior warden, Chit Maung, and Sergeant Chit Kyaw, framed Ko Win Bo in the case of the two escaped criminal prisoners, who escaped on August 15, 2000. He was framed because the

following actions angered the prison authorities:
- His quarrel with Sergeant Chit Kyaw
- His complaint about the rape case
- His denunciation to the prison authorities
Ko Win Bo and his two friends, Moe Kyaw Thu and Zaw Min Min Latt, who were also political prisoners, were accused of having contact with the two escapees and for organizing strikes in the prison. They were then reported to the senior warden of the jail.
After that, Ko Win Bo, Moe Kyaw Thu and Zaw Min Min Latt were brought to punishment cells with their hands cuffed behind their backs. They were placed in the cells so four empty cells lay between them. They were then stripped naked and flogged with one inch diameter wooden sticks by twenty three prison guards until the guards were satisfied. Ko Win Bo's breastbones were broken in this beating because he was hit stronger than others.
The broken breastbone touched and stabbed his liver. He demanded to see a doctor for treatment but no one listened to him. He departed this life within an hour after the flogging.
Ko Win Bo, former Army officer, was terminated from the Military and sentenced for his participation in the case of 'SLORC Ruby' (a lawsuit on smuggling a ruby out of the country jointly by some military authorities and civilians) in 1990. He was released the first time in 1997. After his release, his only participation in national politics was through religion. He became a political prisoner while he was working for the release all political prisoners. He was killed by twenty three prison employees for defending prisoners' rights.
When he was killed in the prison, the SPDC was announcing to the whole world that their cooperation with the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) was successful. At the same time, the ICRC was also announcing that there was no more physical abuse in prisons in Burma.

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)