Zaw Myint Maung, a close confidante of detained Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, passed away from leukaemia on Monday, just days after his release from junta custody on health grounds, according to a source from the National League for Democracy (NLD).

The 72-year-old veteran politician spent nearly two decades imprisoned for his opposition to Myanmar's military and was a key figure in the NLD, where he served as vice-chairman. Zaw Myint Maung was arrested following the military coup in 2021 and jailed on corruption charges but was recently released due to his deteriorating health.

"We received confirmation of his death. It is a great loss for us, as he was one of our NLD vice-chairmen," said a senior NLD member, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Although we knew we might lose him, his passing at this critical time is a deep blow. We must continue the fight for democracy with the leaders we have left."

Zaw Myint Maung was a key figure in Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement. In 1988, he led a doctors' strike during the uprisings that first brought Aung San Suu Kyi to prominence. He left his academic post in 1989 to join the NLD and was subsequently imprisoned for his activism.

After the NLD’s landslide victory in the 2015 elections, Zaw Myint Maung was appointed as chief minister of Myanmar’s Mandalay region, solidifying his role as one of Suu Kyi’s most trusted allies. In 2020, she described him as a "real hardcore comrade" who had been with the party since its inception.

The European Union condemned his detention, calling the charges against him politically motivated and criticizing the "inhumane" conditions he endured in prison. The EU also dismissed his recent release as "not a genuine act of clemency," saying it occurred mere hours before his death.

The 2021 military coup has severely weakened the NLD, with several senior members either imprisoned or killed. Nyan Win, another of Suu Kyi's confidants, died of COVID-19 while in custody in 2021. In 2022, a former NLD lawmaker was executed by the junta, marking Myanmar's first use of capital punishment in decades.

Suu Kyi, who remains under detention, is serving a 27-year sentence on multiple charges, which rights groups have condemned as politically motivated attempts to sideline her and the NLD from the country’s political landscape.

The junta’s crackdown on dissent has sparked widespread resistance, which it has been unable to quell three years after the coup. Nearly three million people have been displaced by the ongoing conflict, according to the United Nations.

Despite the NLD’s dissolution by the junta in March 2023 for failing to re-register under a military-drafted electoral law, the party and its legacy continue to inspire opposition to military rule across the country.

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