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April 23, 2014

Flowers sit next to a portrait of Myanmar democracy activist Win Tin during his funeral ceremony in Yangon today. AFP pic, April 23, 2014.Thousands of mourners Wednesday attended the funeral of Win Tin, a giant of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement, in an outpouring of grief for one of the country's best loved champions of freedom.

Activists, political figures and ordinary citizens crowded a cemetery on the outskirts of Yangon, filing past the coffin for a last glimpse of the co-founder of Myanmar's opposition party.

Many wore blue the colour of a prison uniform in tribute to Win Tin, who was Myanmar's longest-serving political detainee under the former junta and who continued to wear a blue shirt after his release in 2008.

A memorial ceremony was held earlier in a Yangon church for Win Tin, who died in hospital in the city early Monday at the age of 84.

Mourners, many holding pictures of their hero aloft, described Win Tin as an inspiration to others in Myanmar, which was ruled by a military junta for nearly half a century before a quasi-civilian regime took power in 2011.

La Pyae Way, a 28-year-old political activist, said all young people should aspire to his ideals and personal sacrifice.

"Whenever there are clouds above, he will always be our blue sky," he said.

Rights campaigners, politicians and many in the international community have joined the tributes to Win Tin's courage during nearly two decades of brutal treatment in jail.

Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said he was an "irreplaceable loss for Burma's human rights community" in a statement using the country's former name.

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