ABSDF: NLD Statement-63 (September

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National League for Democracy
97/B, West Shwegondine Road
Bahan Township, Rangoon

Statement - 63 (9/98)

September 21, 1998

1. On September 6, 1998 Burmese military authorities detained
85-year old Thakin Khin Nyunt, who is a Member of Parliament (MP)
from the National League for Democracy (NLD). He was elected to
parliament from Yenanchaung Constituency-1 and is a well-known
and respected MP.
 
2. The authorities sent Thakin Khin Nyunt home at approximately
5:00pm on September 14, 1998. He did not negotiate with the
authorities and his actions were in accordance with the
principles and policies of the NLD.

3. Thakin Khin Nyunt has since described to the NLD what he was
told by the military authorities on September 14, 1998 at a
military installation where he was detained:

They said they would send me home. I said, "That's fine but if
you continue to impose restrictions on me, I'll not go home. If
you don't like to detain me here, you can send me anywhere you
wish."   Then they told me that there would not be any
restrictions for me. So I told them that I would go home and then
to the NLD office. They said that it was up to me and I was free
to go anywhere I wished and do anything I wished to do.

4. On August 2, 1998 the military authorities in Chauk arrested
NLD Township Organizing Committee Chairman U Kyi Toe and 10 other
officials for distributing two copies of the letter entitled
"Request to the people of Burma" written by the General Secretary
of the NLD (Daw Aung San Suu Kyi). Those letters of request had
already been distributed by the NLD on July 23, 1998.

5. The NLD received a report that U Than Win, one of the
detainees, had been blindfolded and beaten up by the authorities.
Later, township chairman U Kyi Toe and one other official, U Aung
Than Nyunt, were charged under Article 16 of the Penal Code. This
law is concerned with offences relating to printing and
distribution. Eight other party officials were released.

6. A hearing regarding the charges was held on September 13,
1998. However, no one was allowed to be present at the hearing.
This is a violation of normal legal procedures in which
defendants must be tried in the presence of people concerned.
Later, the NLD learned that the two were in fact sentenced on the
following day, not at the court, but at the police station where
they were being detained. They were each given sentences of seven
years imprisonment with hard labour.

7. According to reports from local NLD officials, the following
Military Intelligence Service officers were responsible for the
arrests and maltreatment of  the NLD officials:

Captain Kyaw Soe Oo           Corporal Ko Ko Maung     
Ko Ko Aung                    Lance-Corporal Kyaw Thu Aung
Sergeant Major Ba Thein,      Htun Oo
Sergeant Major Ohn Myint       

8.   The NLD hereby declares that it objects and denounces these
lawless actions of the military authorities.    

Central Executive Committee
National League for Democracy

Rangoon
First Waxing Moon, B.E 1360
September 21, 1998