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Myanmar Ruling Party Mourns Assassination of Suu Kyi Adviser

by Associated Press

   YANGON, MYANMAR --

   Thousands of Myanmar politicians, activists and others shocked by the
   assassination of a longtime adviser to leader Aung San Suu Kyi gathered
   Monday at a cemetery for an emotional funeral ceremony, while police
   investigated the motive for the killing.

   Ko Ni, a prominent lawyer and member of Myanmar's Muslim minority, was
   shot in the head at close range as he walked out of the Yangon airport
   Sunday. The suspected shooter was apprehended while trying to escape.

   A statement issued late Monday by the office of President Htin Kyaw
   said that according to an initial interrogation, the shooting was
   intended "to threaten the country's stability." It said the authorities
   would step up security measures, and urged people not to be frightened
   and refrain from agitation involving race or religion.

   The killing shocked many in Yangon because attacks on prominent people
   are rare, although security forces are notorious for brutal behavior in
   remote rural areas, especially when dealing with ethnic minorities.

   Ko Ni "is irreplaceable for both Aung San Suu Kyi and the party," Suu
   Kyi's ruling National League for Democracy party said in a statement.
   He was especially valued as an expert in constitutional law, looking
   for ways to sidestep provisions placed in the charter by an earlier
   military junta to retain power at the expense of elected governments.

   He was seen as a familiar and helpful figure by journalists and human
   rights workers who have found Suu Kyi's government almost as difficult
   to deal with as the military-backed regime it replaced.

   At the same time, Ko Ni was active in defending the rights of Muslims,
   who often face discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Last year,
   he helped found the Myanmar Muslim Lawyers Association, which was
   criticized by ultra-nationalist Buddhists monks as well as by some of
   his political allies, who feared it encouraged sectarianism.

   Anti-Muslim sentiments have increased in the country in recent years
   following deadly intercommunal violence in the western state of
   Rakhine, home to many Muslims belonging to the Rohingya minority. As a
   Burmese Muslim, Ko Ni shared their religion but was better integrated
   into mainstream Myanmar society.

   The suspect was arrested after he also shot a taxi driver who tried to
   stop him from fleeing the airport, the Information Ministry said in a
   video posted on state-run MRTV. The driver died on the way to a
   hospital.

   Police seized two guns from the man, whom they identified as Kyi Linn
   of Mandalay. Authorities were searching for any possible accomplices.
   Speculation about the motive included political intimidation,
   anti-Muslim prejudice and a possible business dispute involving the
   victim's private law practice.

   Mandalay regional police chief Han Tun said at a news conference that
   the suspect is an ex-convict who had received a 27-year-sentence on
   three counts of stealing statues of Buddha. Reports in the Myanmar
   press said he was released in 2014 under an amnesty after serving 11
   years.

   Members of Parliament, political activists and NLD party members were
   among those who gathered Monday for the funeral at a Muslim cemetery on
   Yangon's outskirts, said Tun Kyi, a prominent Muslim activist and a
   friend of Ko Ni.

   Many of the thousands of people who streamed to the cemetery wept
   openly. Security was tight, with police even using bomb detectors on
   the baskets of flowers sent by mourners.

   The overflowing crowd turned rowdy at times, jostling for space as the
   open pavilion, with a capacity for perhaps 500 people, was surrounded
   by at least 10 times that number of people.

   Those attending included U.S. Ambassador Scot Marciel, who called Ko
   Ni's death "a terrible loss."

   "Of course we are all shocked and really sad," he said. "I knew Ko Ni
   and his commitment to his country and democracy."

   There are important antecedents in Myanmar for political violence
   against influential leaders, including Suu Kyi and her father Gen. Aung
   San, who led the country to independence from Britain. Aung San was
   assassinated in 1947 along with six members of his provisional Cabinet,
   and some historians consider his lost leadership a reason for the
   country's unrest since then, because he could not oversee a
   power-sharing agreement he had made with ethnic minorities.

   Suu Kyi was the apparent target of an assassination attempt in 2003,
   when her motorcade was ambushed by a mob on a remote road in central
   Myanmar. Her driver maneuvered their car to escape, but other people in
   her entourage - four by government accounts, more according to other
   sources - were killed. The attack was generally thought to have been
   carried out by a faction of the military, although no one faced
   punishment.

   Ethnic minority leaders have also been targets, most notably the
   monarch of the Shan minority, Sao Shwe Thaik, who was also the first
   president of Myanmar in 1948-1952. He was arrested by the military when
   it staged a coup in 1962 and died in unclear circumstances in custody.
   His son was shot dead on the day of the coup, and another Shan noble
   disappeared after being arrested.