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Sentencing of Myanmar’s deposed leader condemned
Strong concern has been raised about the harshness and unjust nature of the prison sentence given to Myanmar’s deposed leader-elect Aung San Suu Kyi.
Jess Feyder
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) said that the three-year jail sentence with “labour” or “hard labour” handed to her for purported election fraud in Myanmar’s 2020 polls is of particular concern, considering her age (77 years) and health disorders.
The prison term was imposed by the country’s military government, following “trials” held by closed-door military tribunals. This extra prison term and the previous sentences have all been condemned by the IBAHRI.
In response to the sentencing, Human Rights Watch said that the secret proceedings found her convicted on “bogus charges” that aimed to keep her in prison indefinitely and out of Myanmar’s political landscape.
The sentencing of Ms Suu Kyi has arrived alongside the release of an IBAHRI report, Crackdown on Human Rights Defenders, Opposition, and the Right to a Fair Trial in Myanmar, which sheds light on the deteriorating situation in Myanmar.
Since the coup d’état on 1 February 2021, the transfer of all judicial, legislative, and executive powers to the military has severely undermined the principle of separation of powers and the rule of law in Myanmar.
Ms Suu Kyi is one of more than 10,600 people who have been arrested by the junta since February, with at least 1,303 others killed in demonstrations, according to the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
In July, the junta hanged four of its critics, and more than 70 political prisoners remain on death row.
The situation has become increasingly violent, with protestors taking up arms and the military bombing villages and setting fire to civilian homes in an attempt to wipe out resistance to its rule.
Mark Stephens CBE, co-chair of the IBAHRI, said that “the world is closely following the ‘trials’ and the treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi”.
“With charge upon charge piling-up against Aung San Suu Kyi, the world is witnessing yet more rights violations by people who know that they cannot govern Myanmar without brute force.
“Once again, men with guns unwilling to give up power will enforce their will on a populace that only seeks to choose its leaders by casting a vote. The barrel of a gun strips Myanmar’s citizens not only of this right, but, as has been too often seen, their right to peaceful protest and ultimately in many cases the right to life,” he said.
“With the military acting as judge and jury the right to a fair trial and the loss of liberty are obvious casualties.”
Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, director of the IBAHRI, said: “Suu Kyi has been subjected to processes which in no way conform to fair trial or due process.
“The international community must stand in solidarity, demand the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders and hold to account those responsible for violating the rule of law and numerous rights of the people of Myanmar.”
According to Anne Ramberg Dr Jur hc, IBAHRI co-chair and immediate past secretary general of the Swedish Bar Association, “there has been a severe crackdown on human rights defenders and the opposition” since the military coup.
“With so many of Myanmar’s dissidents killed, and elected officials detained, the junta’s pretence of simply contesting the election results and intending to hold ‘free and fair’ elections cannot be viewed as anything but a charade,” she said.
“What is clear is that the military junta is, under the pretext of her having broken the ‘law’, seeking to make an example of Aung San Suu Kyi, a symbol of democracy.”
“As the right to a fair trial has been denied to Suu Kyi, the verdicts and sentences must be treated as suspect,” said the IBAHRI.
