Veteran activist wins Citizen of Burma Award 2026
Pro-democracy activist and former political prisoner Min Ko Naing was honored with the Citizen of Burma Award 2026 by the U.S.-based organization of the same name in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Saturday. Min Ko Naing, which means “Conqueror of Kings,” was born Paw Oo Tun. He fled underground to avoid arrest during the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021, and now fights for democracy from exile in an unknown country.
The Citizen of Burma Award organization announced on May 23 that it chose Min Ko Naing due to his work “against military dictatorship from the 1988 pro-democracy uprising to the Spring Revolution alongside the people,” referring to the resistance to the 2021 coup. He was jailed in 1989 for his pro-democracy activism and released by a previous regime in 2004. Winners of the Citizen of Burma Award reportedly receive $10,000 USD.
The Citizen of Burma Award has been given each year since 2010. Over the last 16 years it has awarded a citizen of the country who contributes to “knowledge, labor, skills and resources towards social services and charities for the Burmese community inside Burma,” according to the organization’s mission statement. The award was given to Aung San Suu Kyi last year. Her son Kim Aris received it on her behalf in the U.S. on May 24, 2025.
Read more and check out our photos from the 17th Citizen of Burma Award event in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on May 23.
India detains alleged drug kingpin from Myanmar
India’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) announced the arrest of Thancintuang (also known as Chintuang or Tluanga) in New Delhi on Monday for allegedly operating a cross-border drug trafficking network from Burma into India and Bangladesh. Authorities described him as the second major Burma-based drug supplier and stated that he was detained following “extensive surveillance and coordinated interstate operations.”
The NCB added that Thancintuang is accused of coordinating methamphetamine and heroin shipments through Mizoram, Manipur, Assam and Tripura states. Indian investigators alleged that his network was linked to drug trafficking operations valued at around $14 million USD. Previous drug seizures linked to Thancintuang netted 49.1 kilograms of methamphetamine and 14 kilograms of methamphetamine in 2024-25.
Indian authorities stated that two of Thancintuang’s alleged associates have been arrested over the past two years. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) stated that Burma’s post-coup crisis has fueled record methamphetamine production and a decade-high rise in opium cultivation, including a 26 percent increase along the Burma-India border in Chin State, which had seen minimal cultivation prior to the 2021 coup.
Read our latest DVB English News op-ed: India-Myanmar military ties solidify as Chin State burns
Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion arrested Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army commander Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi, and 10 others, in Narayanganj and Mymensingh outside of Dhaka on March 17. (Credit: Prothom Alo)
Fortify Rights urges ICC to issue warrant for ARSA leader
Human rights group Fortify Rights and seven unnamed Rohingya organizations called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to seek an arrest warrant for Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) leader Ata Ullah for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma and Bangladesh. They urged the ICC to investigate alleged killings, torture, abductions and attacks linked to ARSA under Ata Ullah’s command.
“Failure to act risks emboldening perpetrators, deepening cycles of violence, and denying victims their fundamental right to justice,” stated a press release on May 21. Ata Ullah was arrested by Bangladeshi authorities on March 18, 2025, but rights groups warned he could be released without facing prosecution for the alleged crimes against Rohingya civilians in Burma’s northern Arakan State and Bangladesh’s refugee camps.
The groups also called on the Bangladeshi government to cooperate with the ICC should an arrest warrant be issued for Ata Ullah. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan requested an arrest warrant for Burma’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing in November 2024 over alleged crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya during the 2017 military crackdown in northern Arakan, which forced over 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh.
News by Region
ARAKAN—The regime administration in the state capital Sittwe imposed an order for the military to shoot on sight anyone who breaks curfew between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. starting last Tuesday. The curfew was first imposed in November 2023 after the Arakan Army (AA) launched its offensive against regime forces.
Residents told local media that the administration’s new shoot on sight order may increase the amount of crimes as armed gunmen would fire back. They told DVB that the military has built bunkers in Sittwe to defend it from AA attacks. It also controls Kyaukphyu and Manaung townships. The AA has seized 14 out of 17 towns since 2023.
NAYPYIDAW—The U.N. Special Envoy on Burma Julie Bishop met with regime officials on an unspecified date last week. Neither the U.N. nor the regime has reported on the official visit which is her first to Burma since Min Aung Hlaing was inaugurated as president by a pro-military parliament on April 10.
BBC Burmese reported that Bishop called for the release of all political prisoners, including jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. Bishop also called for an immediate ceasefire and an increase in humanitarian aid into Burma on April 9, 2025 during her visit to Naypyidaw following the March 28 earthquake.
SAGAING—Two People’s Defense Force (PDF) members, as well as five prisoners of war, were killed by airstrikes carried out by the Burma Air Force in Manpha village on Wednesday, Indaw Township residents told DVB. Indaw, located 209 miles (336 km) north of the region’s capital Monywa, was recaptured by regime forces on April 30.
“Two fighter jets carried out the attacks,” the PDF told DVB, adding that the five prisoners of war killed were regime troops detained by the PDF in May. Indaw town was seized by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the PDF in April 2025. An Indaw resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity that airstrikes have been carried out since May 13.
(Exchange rate: $1 USD = 4,200 MMK)
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