Aung Gyi, Myanmar coup backer who later helped found pro-democracy party, dies at 93

By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, October 25, 4:49 PM     

YANGON, Myanmar — Aung Gyi, an army officer who helped install Myanmar’s military dictatorship but later became a founder of its pro-democracy movement, has died at age 93.

His family says he died Thursday from cardiac arrest.

Brig. Gen. Aung Gyi was No. 2 in the junta set up after Gen. Ne Win seized power in a 1962 coup. However, his public comments about the coup and economic policies caused his ouster in 1963.

His later critical open letters to Ne Win won him time in jail but also helped catalyze the discontent leading to a failed pro-democracy uprising in 1988.

He joined Aung San Suu Kyi in forming the National League for Democracy in 1988, but resigned shortly afterward, alleging communist influence.

He is survived by his wife and four adult children.

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