While serving as Myanmar’s Shan State Chief Minister, Linn Htut was arrested on 1 February 2021
as part of a nationwide clampdown on senior government officials during a military coup. After he
was reportedly tortured and subjected to sleep deprivation, solitary confinement and unfair trials,
Linn Htut was sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison with hard labour over trumped-up charges
of corruption and electoral fraud. In June 2025, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
determined that Linn Htut’s detention is arbitrary and called for his immediate release. With 1,800
deaths in custody reported in Myanmar over a three-year period, there are dire concerns for the life
of Linn Htut, who at 65 years of age faces multiple chronic medical conditions made worse by years
of torture and poor conditions while in custody. We call on the Myanmar military to immediately and
unconditionally release Linn Htut.
