June 17, Excerpt from report by Norway-based Burmese Democratic Voice of Burma on 16 June

The injury suffered yesterday by U Than Lwin, elected representative of Mandalay Division’s Madaya Township Constituency, is so serious that he has been admitted in Mandalay General Hospital, his wife, Daw Khin Thi, disclosed today.

U Than Lwin was punched in the face with a knuckle-duster by an unknown person yesterday on his return home after praying for the freedom of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners at Sutaungpye Chedi. His nose was broken in the attack.

He went to Madaya Hospital immediately after the attack but after his injury was X-Rayed and examined, he was transferred to Mandalay General Hospital, according to his wife, Daw Khin Thi. [Passage omitted]

Elected Representative U Than Lwin is 70 years old and who attacked him is not definitively known yet. We asked who the attacker could be and U Khin Maung Than, chairman of Madaya Township NLD, said:

[Begin Khin Maung Than recording] We know who he is in our hearts. We can guess that he belongs to an organization that is opposed to us. We were unarmed and when we went to pray at the pagoda we were only holding flowers – Thabye flowers – joss sticks, candles, and small pots of sand to hold our joss sticks in. Attacking us under a situation where we were not looking for a fight or have any reason to fight … in fact, before we started off, we were warned by the chairman of the ward peace and development council not to do anything because something could happen and that he did not want anything to happen to us. We told him that we were embarking on a peaceful mission and to pray so nothing could happen and that we did the same thing last week and it ended peacefully because we prayed and sent our metta [loving kindness] to all. We said nothing could happen this time too. [End recording]

That was Madaya Township NLD Chairman U Khin Maung Than.

However, he told DVB that a complaint had been filed with the township police to investigate and take action on the case.