Associated Press

Yangon, July 19:

Myanmar today marked the 58th anniversary of the assassination of independence hero general Aung San, but his daughter, detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, wasn’t

able to attend ceremonies. Aung San was gunned down along with six Cabinet ministers and two officials on July 19, 1947, six months before Myanmar gained independence from Britain.

The anniversary of his death is marked each year as Martyrs Day at a mausoleum near the

capital Yangon’s famous Shwedagon pagoda. Culture Minister major general Kyi Aung led the official ceremony today. It was the third consecutive year that Suu Kyi missed laying flowers

during the ceremony — the only official event the country’s military rulers had allowed her to

attend during her years of house arrest. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner has spent 10 of the past 16 years under confinement. Suu Kyi was last detained by the government in May 2003 after her convoy was attacked by a pro-junta mob as she toured northern Myanmar.