Mr.
Ko Ni, 65, a Muslim and a member of the ruling National League for
Democracy, was returning from Indonesia with about 20 other government
officials and civic leaders, who had traveled there as part of a
government-organized trip to discuss democracy and conflict resolution.
He was shot in the head at close range as he was about to leave the airport in his family car, according to witnesses.
“During the shooting, he was holding his grandchild,” said U Aung Myint Oo, an airport security guard. “He fell down bleeding on the ground and died on the spot.”
As
the gunman tried to flee, he shot and killed a taxi driver, U Ne Win,
who had tried to stop him. Other taxi drivers detained the gunman until
the police arrived and arrested him, seizing two handguns. He was
identified by police as U Kyi Lin from Mandalay, Myanmar.
According to taxi drivers who witnessed the attack, the gunman shouted, “You can’t act like that,” before opening fire.
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| At Yangon International airport (photo: Internet) |
 |
The police were seen searching the house of Mr. Kyi Lyn in a neighborhood of Mandalay.
No
motive for the killing has been given. Mr. Ko Ni was one of the
best-known Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, serving as a legal
adviser to the National League for Democracy. He was the author of six
books on human rights issues and democratic elections, and was actively
involved in the interfaith peace movement.
“It
seems the gunman knew the exact time of his arrival and was waiting to
shoot him,” said a member of the team who traveled with Mr. Ko Ni to
Indonesia, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity over concern for
his safety. “I was shocked and scared. It is unsafe here.”
A
spokesman for the National League for Democracy, U Win Htein, said
during a telephone interview from Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital, that Mr.
Ko Ni was a key adviser in recent years to Ms. Suu Kyi, the former
opposition leader turned leader of Myanmar, on constitutional amendments.
“His
assassination was a big blow to the National League for Democracy, and
it would be very difficult for us to replace him,” Mr. Win Htein said.
“We lost a hero. It is a bad situation here.”
Amnesty
International, which worked with Mr. Ko Ni on human rights issues in
Myanmar, called for an independent investigation into his death.
“The
killing of prominent lawyer U Ko Ni in Yangon today is an appalling act
that has all the hallmarks of an assassination,” Josef Benedict, the
organization’s deputy campaigns director for Southeast Asia and the
Pacific, said in a statement.
“It
demands that the authorities immediately launch a thorough, independent
and impartial investigation,” Mr. Benedict added. “The authorities must
send a clear message that such violence will not be tolerated and will
not go unpunished.”
