TWO ELECTED NLD MEMBERS FORCED BY R

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Media Release
Date: January 17, 1998
  

           TWO ELECTED NLD MEMBERS FORCED BY REGIME TO RESIGN

                                   

Burma's military regime, the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC), has recently forced two elected members of the National
League for Democracy (NLD) to resign as members of parliament.
  
On January 15, 1998, the regime announced that 68 year-old U Aung
Htoo, elected to Gangaw constituency in Magwe Division in 1990,
had resigned as a Member of Parliament (MP). U Aung Htoo was a
deputy education officer in Gangaw before joining the NLD in
1988, and attended and subsequently boycotted the National
Convention as an NLD representative.
  
Another elected NLD representative, 60 year-old U Thein Zan, was
forcibly dismissed as an MP last month. He was elected to the
constituency of Aunglarn 2, Magwe Division, in the 1990 election
and has been in Thayet Prison in central Burma for nearly 11
months. 
  
So far 53 elected NLD representatives have been forced to resign
from the party, while 68 others have been forcibly dismissed as
MPs. Another 37 NLD members elected in the 1990 polls remain in
prison.
  
U Thein Zan was forced to sign a letter of resignation from the
NLD due to heavy pressure and constant harassment by Military
Intelligence officers in Thayet Prison. The letter was received
by the Election Commission in the first week of December 1997,
and the SPDC officially announced his resignation on January
7, 1998. 
  
U Thein Zan was arrested with NLD Aunglarn township organisers U
Nyunt Hlaing, U Tin Htoo Kyaw, U Than Tun, U Tun Kyi and U Aye
Kyaw on February 24, 1997. His colleagues U Aye Myint, U Tin Win
and U Mya Shwe, also from Aunglarn, were arrested the following
day. All nine were charged under Section 5(j) of the Emergency
Provision Act and sent to Thayet Prison.
  
U Thein Zan completed a bachelor degree in arts and law in 1958
from Rangoon University. After that, he worked at the Ministry of
Trade for a short time, and from 1968 until his arrest he worked
as a high court advocate. 
  
  
All Burma Students' Democratic Front

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