Myanmar dismisses allegation over death of prisoner

Police Chief Brigadier-General Khin Yi dismissed on Thursday an allegation that a prisoner had died of torture, saying that his death was due to normal disease rather than tortured as charged.

Khin Yi made the dismissal at a three-hour-long press conference here, saying that the allegation is groundless.

Thet Win Aung, 35, died in the Mandalay prison hospital on Oct. 16 due to congestive cardiac failure, Khin Yi said.

The prisoner's death has created comments by some foreign media that he was tortured to death by the prison authorities.

Thet Win Aung was sentenced to 57 years' imprisonment in January 1999 for nine criminal cases including his involvement in one of the anti-government organizations in exile -- the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) which was declared by the government later to be an outlawed and terrorist organization in August 2005 and April 2006 respectively.

According to Khin Yi, he participated in the 1988 students movement against the government. He left the country in July 1997 to Thailand and joined with the ABSDF. He returned to Myanmar in August 1998 on a mission to incite unrest in the country, Khin Yi added.

There are 42 prisons and 91 prisoners camps in Myanmar, according to Khin Yi.

Source: Xinhua