Khin Maung Zaw

Khin Maung Zaw, known honorifically as U Khin Maung Zaw, is a Burmese lawyer and human rights activist based in Myanmar. He represented Aung San Suu Kyi, among other Myanmar nationals who receive undemocratic trials.

Biography

Zaw was born in Pyinmana in 1948, soon after British rule in Burma ended. As a student at Mandalay University, he attempted to form a students' union, which had been banned during the ruling of Ne Win. For his activism, he was sent to a prison camp on the Coco Islands. In 1972, he was released, until being re-imprisoned for two years in 1978 for joining a student protest. He obtained a degree in law from Mandalay University at age 37.
In 2017, Zaw took represented two Reuters journalists who were imprisoned for uncovering a massacre of Rohingya muslims.
Zaw serves as the lawyer for Aung San Suu Kyi, a former state counsellor of Myanmar who played a vital role in the country's transition to partial democracy, who was charged for several offences.
When Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won elections in 2015, beginning a precarious power-sharing with the military, Khin Maung Zaw distanced himself from the political party.