Aung San Suu Kyi

Myint Swe headed Myanmar as president from 2021 to 2024 following the military’s power grab.

Myint Swe, who has served as Myanmar’s military-backed president, has died aged 74 after a long medical leave, according to state media.

The news of his death was announced on Thursday in a statement from the government.

“President U Myint Swe passed away at 8:28am this morning,” the statement said, adding that Myint Swe will receive a state funeral.

A former general, Myint Swe became president of Myanmar in 2021 when the military overthrew the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Before the military takeover, he held several senior leadership posts, including the post of first vice president during a period of semi-democratic rule that ended in 2021.

The coup handed power to Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s military, with Myint Swe serving as a figurehead leader carrying out ceremonial duties.

Min Aung Hlaing stepped in as “acting president” of Myanmar last year when Myint Swe went on medical leave due to the effects of Parkinson’s disease, according to reports.

At the time of his death, Myint Swe was struggling with “weight loss, loss of appetite, fever and a decline in cognitive function” and had been admitted to a military hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, according to state media.

His death comes just a week after military leader Min Aung Hlaing lifted a state of emergency in the country amid a grinding civil war and called for elections to be held in December.

While the military also nominally transferred authority to a civilian-led interim government in advance of the vote, observers say the change was on paper only, and Min Aung Hlaing has retained ultimate power as head of the armed forces.

Efforts to hold elections are seen as an attempt by the military government to gain legitimacy and de-escalate years of violent political turmoil that have engulfed the country since it grabbed power.

Opposition groups have pledged to boycott the poll.

Myanmar has been in a state of civil war since 2021, when pro-democracy protests escalated into a violent uprising, later compounded by the entry of armed ethnic groups.

The military-backed government has since lost control of large sections of the country.

Estimates in 2024 suggested that it controlled only one-fifth of the country, although the military-held areas include major urban areas.

Lin Latt Shwe, 6, was detained along with her mother and other suspects in the killing of a retired general in Yangon.

Security forces in Myanmar have arrested a six-year-old girl, along with 15 other people suspected of involvement in the assassination of a retired army officer last month, state-run media report.

The 16 suspects – 13 males and three females – were arrested in four different regions of the country late last month, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said on Friday.

Those arrested include Lin Latt Shwe, the six-year-old daughter of the alleged assassin, Myo Ko Ko, who was reported to have at least three other aliases. The newspaper report said the child and her parents were arrested in the central city of Bagan.

A little-known armed group calling itself the Golden Valley Warriors claimed responsibility for killing retired Brigadier General Cho Tun Aung, 68, who was shot outside his home in Yangon, the country’s commercial capital, on May 22.

Other detainees include the owner of a private hospital, which is alleged to have provided treatment to the assassin, who, according to the newspaper report, suffered a gunshot wound during the attack.

Independent news outlet The Irrawaddy said the Golden Valley Warriors have denied that the 16 people detained were part of their operation.

The junta has arrested 16 people including a 6-year-old girl on suspicion of involvement in the assassination of retired Brig-Gen Cho Tun Aung in Yangon on May 22. Golden Valley Warriors claimed responsibility and said the 16 are not related to them. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/dtTCEJ1bF0

— The Irrawaddy (Eng) (@IrrawaddyNews) June 6, 2025

The killing of Cho Tun Aung, who was a former ambassador to Cambodia, is the latest attack against figures linked to the ruling military who launched a takeover of the country in 2021 after deposing the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Since the coup and the outbreak of the civil war in Myanmar, targeted assassinations have been carried out against high-ranking active and retired military officers, as well as senior civil servants, local officials, business associates of the ruling generals and suspected informers.

Soon after carrying out the assassination, the Golden Valley Warriors said in a statement posted on Facebook that Cho Tun Aung had been teaching internal security and counterterrorism at Myanmar’s National Defence College and was, by his actions, complicit in atrocities committed by the military in the ongoing civil war.