Myanmar Sentences Students TO Death

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

Myanmar Sentences Students To Death

 .c The Associated Press 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Myanmar's military regime has sentenced to death two
members of an anti-government student organization, the group said today. 

The All Burma Students Democratic Front said death sentences were handed down
to Ko Thein and Khin Hlaing in April for trying to hand a letter about human
rights abuses to a U.N. envoy. Executions in Myanmar, also known as Burma,
usually are carried out by hanging. 

A government official confirmed the sentence but said the two were convicted
of explosives and sabotage violations. 

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two were among six
people sentenced to death or to 14 years in prison and none were students. 

It was unclear how many of the six were condemned to death. The government
statement implied there were more than two but was vaguely worded. The student
group made no mention of other members receiving the death penalty. 

The organization was founded by student exiles after the military, which has
ruled Myanmar for 36 years, violently crushed the nationwide pro-democracy
uprising of 1988. It operates openly outside the country but remains an
underground group within Myanmar. 

The government regards it as a terrorist organization, though the group,
weakened by desertions over the years, says it has renounced armed struggle. 

The government official identified Khin Hlaing as 51 and Ko Khein as 44 and
said they had never tried to hand U.N. envoy Alvaro De Soto a letter during
his visit in January. 

De Soto's mission was to try to persuade the military to open a dialogue with
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the country's pro-
democracy movement and shunned by the generals. 

AP-NY-04-29-98 1116EDT