The regime has announced the arrest of Nay Soe Maung, a physician and the son-in-law of former dictator and army general Than Shwe, in Pyigyitagon Township of Mandalay on Wednesday. He was arrested for allegedly using social media to “threaten the stability of the state.” No formal charges have been announced. 

“There were rumors of his arrest over the last few days, but now the military’s announcement confirmed it,” a source close to Nay Soe Maung told DVB on the condition of anonymity, adding that Nay Soe Maung posted on social media recently that intelligence officers had been following him.

On Oct. 8, he posted his condolences for Zaw Myint Maung, the former Mandalay Chief Minister and vice-chair of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, who died at Mandalay General Hospital on Oct. 7 – one day after the regime granted him an amnesty on “medical grounds.” 

Nay Soe Maung, 67, is a retired colonel and former superintendent of the Mingaladon Military Hospital in Yangon. He is married to Than Shwe’s daughter Kyi Kyi Shwe. His father is Tin Sein, a serving major general in the Myanmar military. 

Sources within the military regime, which seized power in Naypyidaw following the 2021 coup, told DVB that there are tensions between retired generals and current regime leaders regarding Nay Soe Maung’s arrest. 

Photos posted to Nay Soe Maung’s social media accounts show that he participated in anti-coup protests in Yangon. Sources close to him have shared that he supports the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar.

Former Information Minister Ye Htut, who served under President Thein Sein’s military regime from 2013-16, was arrested on Oct. 28, 2023. He was accused of criticizing the military on social media and later sentenced to 10 years in prison for “inciting unrest against the state and disrupting the military from carrying out its duties.”