This is a turning point in the conflict which has pitted the military in power in Rangoon for 18 months against an armed civilian resistance.

Burmese junta has executed four prisoners, including a rapper, former pro-democracy MP from Aung San Suu Kyi's party, and another famous opponent, the junta has not carried out for 30 years. July state media.

The Burmese are torn between "sadness and anger", reports Cyril Payen, senior reporter for France 24, a former correspondent in Southeast Asia.

Kyaw Min Yu, 53, known as "Jimmy", was a writer and longtime opponent of the military, famous for his role in the 1988 student uprising against the then junta.

He was arrested in October and convicted in January.

Phyo Zeya Thaw, 41, a former member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), was arrested in November and convicted in January of violating the anti-terrorism law.

This pioneer of hip-hop in Burma, whose lyrics already criticized the army in the early 2000s, had been imprisoned in 2008 for belonging to an illegal organization and possessing foreign currency. 

"Traumatizing Resistance"

Part of the Burmese wondered if the junta would dare to go so far as to put to death the two famous opponents, explains on France 24 the RFI correspondent in Yangon, Juliette Verlin.

"And yet, the news of their execution comes as no surprise to anyone," says the journalist.

Phyo Zeya Thaw and Kyaw Min Yu being symbols of the fight for democracy - and very popular - their elimination is analyzed by many observers as a way of "traumatizing the resistance", underlines Juliette Verlin.

02:02

The authorities have maintained – on purpose – the vagueness surrounding their fate, believes Cyril Payen.

"As of last week, the authorities had denied the implementation of these executions. A communication which shows the perversity of the junta", he adds.

The four were convicted of "brutal and inhumane acts of terror" and their executions followed "prison procedures", the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said on Monday, without specifying how or when they were executed. occurred.

"No limit"

But everything suggests that the executions took place over the weekend, reports on the English-speaking antenna of France 24 Han Htoo Khant Paint, a friend of the executed rapper.

This Burmese pro-democracy activist and researcher now lives in Berlin, where he found refuge six months ago.

Last Friday, two of the executed men had contacted their families via Zoom, reports Han Htoo Khant Paint.

They were then probably unaware that they were living their last moments there: the prisoners had asked their family to send to their place of incarceration "eyeglasses, as well as a dictionary", reports the researcher.

Their killing is proof for the international community that "the junta knows no limits when it comes to maintaining power", concludes the pro-democracy activist.

These executions, followed by multiple official condemnations, from Washington to Tokyo, risk accentuating the international isolation of the Burmese soldiers.

The latter seized power by force on February 1, 2021, under the pretext of alleged fraud in the previous year's elections, won overwhelmingly by Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD.

"These evil acts must mark a turning point for the international community. (...) The status quo of international inaction must be firmly rejected", reacted on Twitter Tom Andrews, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Burma. .

I'm devastated by news that former parliamentarian Zeyar Thaw and longtime activist Ko Jimmy were executed with two others today.

UN Member States must honor their lives by making this depraved act a turning point for the world's response to this crisis.

My statement attached.

pic.twitter.com/zhdBxFDXoo

— UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews (@RapporteurUn) July 25, 2022

Struggling with a civil war, the general at the head of the coup, Min Aung Hlaing, is currently partly "locked up", estimates Cyril Payen, who detects in the soldier's trip to Moscow in July the confession of a certain weakness.

Along with China, Russia represents one of the backers of a "couldn't be more isolated junta".

01:51

First performances of a long series?

According to Cyril Payen, by executing opponents, the power also shows a certain feverishness: "The Burmese army is in the hot seat. In a year and a half, the People's Defense Forces (PDF) have risen in all four corners of Burma and have multiplied the blows against all the apparatchiks of power."

However, a question agitates the spirits in Burma, observes the correspondent of RFI, Juliette Verlin: "And if these killings were the first of a long series?"

Since the military coup, 115 opponents of the junta have been convicted of terrorism, which suggests further executions.

Thirty years after the last executions, Han Htoo Khant Paint and his militant friends who remained in Burma fear that Monday's hangings are a "sinister precedent".

"Onslaught to the People"

The date of July 25 will remain symbolic for the Burmese, believes Cyril Payen: executing two men whose popularity is so great is an affront to the people.

But where the junta intends to "terrorize", it is likely that it has on the contrary welded together an angry population, which was already determined to bring down the soldiers, believes Juliette Verlin.

According to her, the news risks "triggering a wave of revenge on the part of the armed resistance".

On Monday, one of these groups has already fired a grenade launcher at the state television building MRTV, located on a busy thoroughfare in the capital, reports the correspondent.

By its hardline and violent headlong rush, the junta proves a failure, concludes Cyril Payen: the putschists have not won their bet to bring the population to its knees.

The ruling army continues a bloody crackdown on its opponents, with more than 2,000 civilians killed and more than 15,000 arrested since the February 1, 2021 coup, according to a local NGO.

She also faces genocide charges against the Rohingya.

In 2017, more than 740,000 members of this Muslim minority found refuge in makeshift camps in Bangladesh to escape military abuse.

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