They condemn 9 people for the murder of a young priest in Myanmar

The Vatican Agency Fides reported that 9 people were sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of a 44 -year -old priest in Myanmar, a crime that further shocked a country in civil war since 2021.

According to the use Published Thursday, a court linked to the Ministry of Justice of the Government of National Unity (NUG), the Executive in the exile led by the Burmese opposition, condemned the 9 accused of the murder of Fr. Donald Martin Yeing Win, priest of the Archdiocese of Mandalay, who was killed on February 14, 2025 in the enclosure of the Church of Our Lady of Our Lady Shwe Bo, in the Sagaing region.

According to the investigations, the convicted were part of local armed groups linked to the Popular Defense Forces (People’s Defense Forces – PDF), the resistance forces that control the “released zones”, subtracted from the control of the Burmese Military Board.

Although the PDFs depend on the NUG – composed by parliamentarians overthrown after the military coup of February 2021 – these units operate many times without full coordination. “Somehow, PDF themselves tried to bring armed men to justice who, in the situation of generalized instability, are out of control. However, the reasons for the murder are not yet clear,” sources mentioned by FIDES point out.

“We know Donald was a man of God, a pastor dedicated to people, a good and sincere person who had committed himself, above all, in the education of the children who had run out of school because of the civil war. He had not done anything wrong,” says Fr. John, priest of Mandalay.

Among Catholics there is a moderate satisfaction for the conviction, since justice was expected, although “there are still too many questions without response, the family would also want more clarity and full justice,” adds the priest.

The civil war in Myanmar

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, lives a civil war from the February 2021 military coup that overthrew the democratic government of Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize. The taking of power by the Military Board caused mass protests, the emergence of civil militias (such as PDF) and a spiral of violence throughout the country.

The repression has left thousands of dead, tens of thousands of detainees and generalized damages in civil infrastructure. Among the most recent attacks is the air bombing of February 6 against the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Mindat, Chin state, of Christian majority.