The following text is not a historical study. It is a retelling of the witness’s life story based on the memories recorded in the interview. The story was processed by external collaborators of the Memory of Nations. In some cases, the short biography draws on documents made available by the Security Forces Archives, State District Archives, National Archives, or other institutions. These are used merely to complement the witness’s testimony. The referenced pages of such files are saved in the Documents section.

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Soe Myint (* 1953)

A man who stayed behind the bars longer than Mandela did

U Soe Myint participated in 74/75/76 student movements when he was a university student. Accordingly, he was arrested by No. 7, Intelligence in 1978. He was released in amnesty in 1980. He was arrested again in 1981 for his participation in underground campaign of communist party and interrogated in No.6, Intelligence camp. He was arrested for the third time in 1991 due to his participation in 8888 Uprising. During interrogation, he was not allowed to sleep and interrogated until he could not classify whether it was day or night. They tied his hand from the back, put the hood over his head, and put him in handcuffs and leg cuffs during arrest. He was tortured with various methods during the first interrogation period and left him wounded and unconscious. He was almost unconscious as about 13 people beat him with 1 inch plastic pipe. He was beaten again with tire robes over his wounds caused by plastic pipes and left him bleeding. He was left for three days without giving food and water. He was forced to do motorbike riding punishment. He was sentenced to additional 12 years imprisonment for making political activities in the prison. When he was arrested for the third time, his daughter was only a few months old. His daughter was already 20 when he released from prison. U Soe Myint stayed in Insein prison, Myingyan prison and Thar Yar Waddy prison for over 29 years. Currently, he is doing the translation business.

© Všechna práva vycházejí z práv projektu: Memory of Myanmar - Moving Forward, Looking Backward

  • Witness story in project Memory of Myanmar - Moving Forward, Looking Backward ()