Myint Swe, the retired general who became Myanmar’s president during the country’s 2021 military coup, has died aged 74, the state broadcaster MRTV announced on Thursday. He passed away in hospital Thursday morning, a year after going on medical leave.
A key figure in the military’s power grab, Myint Swe assumed the largely ceremonial presidency after the arrest of then-incumbent Win Myint and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, 2021. Both have remained in detention since, as the country plunged deeper into crisis.
At the time of the coup, Myint Swe, then vice president under the quasi-civilian government, immediately handed full power to the military commander-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing. His role was pivotal in giving the military junta a legal façade to justify its control over Myanmar.
Since the coup, the Southeast Asian nation has been gripped by civil war, with armed resistance movements challenging military rule across multiple regions. The junta stands accused of widespread human rights abuses and atrocities—allegations it continues to deny.
Myint Swe was placed on medical leave in July 2024, after which his responsibilities were formally transferred to Min Aung Hlaing. Just last week, the junta announced a nominal power shift to a new interim civilian-led government in the lead-up to planned elections. However, Min Aung Hlaing remains firmly in control as acting president and military chief.
Myint Swe’s death comes at a time of ongoing instability in Myanmar, with both political and military leadership still tightly held by the generals who orchestrated the 2021 coup.
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