About Aung San Suu Kyi

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Description: Page Aung San Suu Kyi du site web: "Fille du leader de la lib?ration Aung San (assassin? en 1947), Suu Kyi est n?e ? Rangoon en 1945, juste avant que la Birmanie ne se lib?re de la tutelle colonisatrice de la Grande-Bretagne. Sa m?re est diplomate et Suu Kyi est ?lev?e en Inde et en Grande-Bretagne. Elle fait des ?tudes de philosophie, d??conomie et de sciences politiques ? Oxford. Elle poursuit une carri?re acad?mique jusqu?? ce qu?elle rentre en Birmanie, en 1988, pour soigner sa m?re malade. En juillet 1988, le g?n?ral Ne Win, ? la t?te d?une junte militaire depuis 1962, est oblig? de d?missionner. Les troubles qui suivent cet ?v?nement sont brutalement r?prim?s par l?arm?e. Influenc?e par la philosophie et les id?es du Mahatma Gandhi et de Martin Luther King, Suu Kyi et ses amis politiques fondent, en 1988, la Ligue nationale pour la d?mocratie (LND). Son engagement, non violent, en faveur de la mise en place d?un r?gime d?mocratique lui vaut un grand succ?s aupr?s de la population. Ce succ?s va amener, en 1989, la junte militaire au pouvoir ? assigner Suu Kyi ? domicile afin de diminuer son influence, mais cette mesure ne va pas emp?cher la LND de remporter presque 80% des si?ges lors des ?lections de 1990. Les militaires au pouvoir vont refuser le r?sultat d?mocratique sorti des urnes et vont au contraire augmenter la r?pression et les pers?cutions vis-?-vis de l?opposition et des minorit?s ethniques. Malgr? cela, Suu Kyi, appel?e ?la Dame?, continue de r?sister.
Creator/author: Verdiana Grossi et Patrick Muttner
Source/publisher: Les Prix Nobels de la Paix (1901-1999)
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: Francais, French
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Description: Articles about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from the Burmanet archives
Source/publisher: Burmanet News
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-29
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The continued harassment and detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi demonstrates the SPDC?s ambitions to silence Burma?s greatest hope for peace. Daw Suu does not threaten the generals who control Burma. In fact, she is their best hope. For over 20 years Daw Suu has exhibited an unwavering commitment to non-violence and dialogue with Burma?s military regime. In light of the junta?s repressive behavior, Daw Suu?s moderate voice and calls for national reconciliation are the true beacon of hope for Burma?s people and must not be overlooked. Political change in Burma is inevitable, as is the transition of power from the generals to a civilian government. A prominent figure of the democracy movement, Daw Suu commends widespread respect from Burma?s citizens, ethnic nationalities, and even within the armed forces. It is this common admiration that places Daw Suu in the unique position to peacefully guide democratic transition addressing the concerns of all parties. For a peaceful transition to democracy to take place in Burma, the junta must immediately release Daw Suu and engage in a sincere and inclusive dialogue regarding Burma?s political future. The junta must embrace Daw Suu?s calls for ?reconciliation and progress towards a situation in which we can all participate together for the good of the future.”"
Source/publisher: ALTSEAN-Burma
2009-05-28
Date of entry/update: 2009-05-28
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: 106,000 results (September 2003) up from 48,000 (November 2002, up from 45,000 in July). 1,280,000 hits (May 2008); 9.300.000 hits (October 2017)
Source/publisher: Google.com
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Various documents -- reports, relevant legislation, commentary, statements etc.
Source/publisher: Online Burma/Myanmar Library
2009-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2009-05-30
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Sub-title: Many in Myanmar have condemned what they perceive as seriously flawed Western criticism of the Burmese ex-leader.
Description: "On 18 October 2023, the Brighton and Hove City Council in the United Kingdom revoked the Freedom of the City awarded to Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi in 2011. Their special meeting lasted only 18 minutes, with Councillor Bella Sankey, the Labour leader of the Council, stating that it was not right to honour a person who “presided over the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Muslim Rohingya community” and was “an enabler to racial and religious discrimination and ethnic cleansing”. Sankey was supported by all 50 or so of the Council members present. This revocation was the latest act by Western institutions and human rights groups, at times inclined to zealotry and intolerance, to humiliate and punish Suu Kyi for her perceived failure to “speak out” against the persecution of the Rohingya Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar. Yet not one of her critics has ever attempted to say why she supposedly did not speak out, nor offered any word of explanation other than, like Bob Geldof, to denigrate her as a “handmaiden to genocide”. Their main concern has been to topple her from the pedestal on which they put her, and not to seek to understand her fraught and fragile relationship with the military, which has led to her detention and imprisonment for more than three years. This year, an invaluable compendium of documents was published by the American Buddhist scholar Alan Clements and his British colleague Fergus Harlow entitled “Burma’s Voices of Freedom”, which includes interviews, articles and speeches by Suu Kyi and several of her Burmese associates. The four-volume set offers a clear and persuasive narrative of her policies from a Burmese perspective, which would come as a complete surprise to many of her Western critics. Suu Kyi indeed acknowledged that she had not “spoken out” on the Rohingya crisis because to do so would only make matters worse. Suu Kyi’s consistent approach over the years to the Rohingya – as on all issues – is inspired by the Buddhist virtues of loving kindness (mettā), compassion (karunā), empathetic joy (muditā) and equanimity (upekkhā). In practical terms it is based on: Reconciliation, not condemnation. A refusal to take sides in the communal disturbances between Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine State. Cooperation with the military at all costs. A refusal to condemn publicly, but to search for a modus vivendi with the aim of securing their understanding and support for the country’s political transition. Determination not to endanger the prospects for democratic change after so many years of military rule, even at the risk of being seriously misunderstood in the West. Suu Kyi had discussions with a considerable number of Western politicians and personalities once she began to travel overseas in 2012. To some, she would undoubtedly have explained in confidence how fragile was her position, but publicly she did not dare make reference to this. Her spokesman, U Win Htein, confided to Clements on 10 April 2015 that Suu Kyi “did clearly express her position about the Rohingya, but what she expressed was that, if she spoke up for the Rohingya or advocated too heavily on their behalf, it would have unfavourable repercussions among the Burmese … It might help the international community understand the situation, but it won’t help Burma.” Suu Kyi indeed acknowledged that she had not “spoken out” on the Rohingya crisis because to do so would only make matters worse, sully her relations with the military, and endanger her very political existence. Yet this is what human rights organisations pressed her to do. Instead, Suu Kyi put the interests of her country before her personal reputation. In an interview with NHK World (Japan) on 6 October 2018, she stated, “I don’t care about prizes and honours as such. I am sorry that friends are not as steadfast as they might be. Because I think friendship means understanding, basically, trying to understand rather than to just make your own judgement. But prizes come and prizes go.” On her decision to represent Myanmar at the International Court of Justice on 11 December 2019, Suu Kyi’s Burmese associates are unanimous that she did not go to The Hague to defend the military, but to appear as a representative of her country in their dispute with The Gambia, and to defend Myanmar’s honour and dignity. The human rights activist and Harvard graduate Ma Thida Sanchuang said in January 2020: “But for the eyes of the general public, Aung San Suu Kyi took the lead to defend our country’s image … The general public’s stand with her on the ICJ case was the signal … to show how much they are still against the military and its party.” This is entirely opposite to most Western interpretations. Not surprisingly, many of Suu Kyi’s closest collaborators have condemned what they see as seriously flawed Western criticism of her policies, especially on the Rohingya. U Win Htein commented: “They are false judgements. They are misperceptions. They are from the uninformed and misguided … Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the most compassionate people I have ever met.” A senior Buddhist monk, the late Myawaddy Sayadaw Abbot of Mingyi Monastery, was even blunter in December 2017: “Wait and see. Only those who revoked the awards will lose their dignity in the end.” And as Myanmar’s version of Lady Gaga, Phyu Phyu Kyaw Thein, a Christian, noted in January 2020: “But one thing for sure is Daw Suu, as a devout Buddhist, forgives them for she knows that ‘they know not what they say’.” One day soon, Suu Kyi may be free to put the record straight. Her detractors can then eat humble pie, if they have the moral courage..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: The Lowy Institute via The Interpreter
2024-02-22
Date of entry/update: 2024-02-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar junta’s Supreme Court says it has rejected appeals by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers to overturn six corruption convictions. Four related to the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a charity named after the 78-year-old state counselor’s mother, and two cases involved the accusation of receiving US$550,000 from crony Maung Weik. On August 29, the Supreme Court declined to hear five special appeals for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Her team has been asking unsuccessfully since January for a meeting to discuss an appeal for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint. They have been in detention since the February 2021 coup. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi faced 19 convictions and 33 years in jail but junta chief Min Aung Hlaing pardoned her of five convictions in a national amnesty on August 1. She faces 27 years in jail and denies all the charges. The Nobel laureate has been unwell and in September suffered from a serious dental problem, was unable to eat without vomiting and suffered from dizziness. The prison authorities denied her request to see an outside dentist. She is being held in solitary confinement in a Naypyitaw prison and has been denied prison visits and access to her legal team since late last year..."
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Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2023-10-07
Date of entry/update: 2023-10-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi’s younger son, Kim Aris, has called for international unity against the actions of the Myanmar junta in an interview with VOA from his home in England. In the interview via Zoom, Aris says, “the scale of junta’s crime against humanity is horrifying.” He also called for the release of his mother, as well as all political prisoners who have been arbitrarily detained. He describes how his mother, while working to bring democracy to her home country from England, was supported by his father, Michael Aris, who would later die of cancer. Suu Kyi went back to Myanmar to nurse her dying mother in 1988, during the people's uprising against Ne Win’s socialist authoritarian government. Suu Kyi would go on to lead the democracy movement in Myanmar and be put under house arrest for more than two decades by the military junta. The junta stripped Aris and his older brother, Alexander Aris, of their Myanmar citizenships in 1989, when their mother first was placed under house arrest. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. VOA: You have frequently been interviewed by different media outlets regarding the current situation in Myanmar where your mother, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been sentenced to nearly 30 years imprisonment by the junta. Why are you now willingly and actively engaging with the media and the public in a way that you haven't before? Kim Aris: Since the beginning of the coup, I have had no contact with my mother. The military regime has not answered any of my queries as to her whereabouts or told me that I can have any contact with her in any way, shape or form. So, I have no other way of trying to reach her. I tried to do what I can. And I don't believe that anyone seeing the horrific images and sheer scale of the crimes against humanity being perpetrated by the military, against the Burmese people could turn a blind eye. … I cannot stand by and simply hope others will do what is needed to free my mother and support the people in desperate need of humanitarian aid if I do not do something myself. The recent news that my mother had been transferred into house arrest is, as far as I'm aware, not true. As far as I know, she's still in prison in Napyidaw somewhere. And the military have used these tactics of false propaganda many times before. And I think this is just what's happening again, now that they're saying to be moved back to house arrest, whereas in fact, she's still in prison. VOA: Your mother has said that she didn't want her kids to be involved in politics. Do you know what her reasons were? Aris: Well, I'm sure every mother's natural instinct is to protect her children. From the personal risks involved due to the brutality of the military. Obviously, paramount in her mind that she herself has faced assassination attempts, and how her father was assassinated as well. These things come with risks. VOA: Many of our viewers know that you don't like to talk about your personal life much, but can you share a little about your experience, especially for our younger audience, on how you overcame the difficult situation of being alone while your mother was back in Myanmar working to lead her country? Aris: It has always saddened and angered me that my mother has sometimes been portrayed as cold-hearted because she was unable to be by my father's side during his final days. I was nursing him at that time and can say that he did not want my mother to return to England. After all the sacrifices she had already made. His wish was to join her in Burma (now Myanmar) and be with her under house arrest. Unfortunately, the military could not find this in their hearts to grant his dying wish. I believe it was a unity between my parents and this gave them the strength to oppose the injustice with which they were faced. Furthermore, I never felt that it was actually hard for me to be without my mother compared to what the Burmese people are going through. Their sacrifices have been far greater than anything that I've had to endure. VOA: Can you give us an update on your campaign to bring attention to your mother’s imprisonment? What is the main aim of the campaign? What do you see as the biggest challenges going forward? Aris: My main aim is to call on the international community to stand in solidarity, take meaningful action to achieve the release of my mother and all political prisoners and hold to account the military leaders responsible for violating the rule of law and numerous rights of the Burmese people. Also, I'm trying to support humanitarian aid fundraising events taking place around the world, and to generate more global awareness of the crisis in Burma and the crimes against humanity being committed by the military every day. Some of the biggest challenges that I'm going to be facing are that some governments and institutions are willing to facilitate the military in their increasingly brazen crimes against humanity, the ability of the United Nations and wider international community to effectively impose more targeted sanctions on individuals, companies and institutions that facilitate the flow of revenue and aid to the junta’s military capabilities. VOA: In my interview with Myanmar activists from the U.K., they said that they felt encouragement when you, as the son of Aung San Suu Kyi, showed your support for them. Do you have any plan to work with any of Myanmar organizations, such as the National Unity government, which led among opponents to the junta? Aris: No, I have no plans on working with any of them. I have no wish to be a politician in any way. But I will be standing in solidarity with all of these organizations. I believe that they will win this war, especially through collaboration and new unity amongst all the different groups in their common fight against this military regime. My belief is that Burma will reemerge as a democratic country with greater inclusivity and acceptance..."
Source/publisher: "Voice of America" (Washington, D.C)
2023-08-23
Date of entry/update: 2023-08-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "In a general amnesty announced on military television last week, Myanmar’s military junta removed six years from the jail term of Aung San Suu Kyi, the 78-year-old leader of the government removed by a coup in February 2021. This came a week after the junta moved her into house arrest following a year in solitary confinement. But it still leaves Aung San Suu Kyi facing a 27-year jail term on bogus charges. The junta also lopped four years off former president Win Myint’s sentence, and reportedly released more than 7,000 other prisoners. But we shouldn’t be persuaded that the junta has changed its stripes. It regularly uses mass amnesties in attempts to cultivate goodwill, either at home or abroad. But any major figures released in these amnesties shouldn’t have been locked up in the first place. The day before the amnesty, the junta extended its state of emergency for a fourth time, further delaying elections, due to relentless opposition to its February 2021 coup. The coup sparked ongoing and widespread violence, and shredded the military’s last claims to social esteem. This has left Myanmar impoverished, largely friendless, and without any clear plan for a positive future. Determined resistance The army’s top decision-makers, currently bunkered in the capital, Naypyidaw, struggle to maintain control of enough territory to seriously contemplate even a heavily stage-managed nationwide poll. Under these volatile conditions, people have been voting with their feet by fleeing abroad or taking up arms in a revolutionary mobilisation. The junta’s leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, reportedly told the National Defence and Security Council that elections couldn’t be conducted due to continued fighting in several regions. The reality for the generals in their fortified compounds is that any poll could further embarrass them – they cannot even reliably rig the national vote. Read more: As Myanmar suffers, the military junta is desperate, isolated and running out of options Many areas are off-limits to government forces, perhaps as much as half the country – which is Southeast Asia’s second-largest by land area. While aerial bombardments by regime aircraft might set back the resistance, the strategy is hardly a way to win hearts or minds. Inch by inch, the diminution of central government control raises questions about the country’s future. There’s increasing concern across the Southeast Asian region. An intractable civil conflict presents significant challenges for neighbours Thailand, China, India and Bangladesh. Diplomatic efforts to maintain Myanmar’s territorial integrity jostle with the discomfort felt almost everywhere about doing business with a blood-splattered regime. The regime tries to play the politics of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to its advantage. But even there, sometimes in the company of other autocrats, Myanmar now faces the ignominy of an “empty seat” at the political level. And almost nobody wants to shake hands with regime representatives. An unnecessary crisis It’s a precipitous erosion of what was, until the coup, a relatively positive story for most Myanmar people. Before the coup, the most problematic issue was the military’s abuses of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority living in westernmost Myanmar. Other issues – such as longstanding ethnic grievances and yawning economic inequality – were, at the very least, subject to open debate in the media and sometimes in the country’s 16 regional and national legislatures. That political and social infrastructure, and the emerging civil society it helped sustain, has now crumbled. It’s been replaced by violence, mistrust, terror and martial chauvinism. Read more: Military violence in Myanmar is worsening amid fierce resistance and international ambivalence Myanmar’s young talent now banned from universities, bravely disobedient in the faces of tanks and bullets, face dismal options: the mountains, the jungle, the border. Some lie low. Others still seek to fan the revolutionary spark. Many are now in jail, others dead. The military, of course, blames its opponents for the devastation its coup unleashed. That sad fact hides a tremendous political and cultural miscalculation. It’s unclear whether Myanmar can recover from the army’s self-inflicted wounds. Some speculate the whole system will collapse, making it impossible for powerbrokers to keep up the increasingly flimsy charade of state power. It has all the ingredients of a failed state. No way out The decision to abandon the proposed elections, followed by last week’s amnesty, is hardly a surprise. But it does reveal the fragility of the military system and the paranoia of the men in charge. It’s also further evidence that nobody can trust the junta. Not only has it broken the faith of the Myanmar people, it constantly tests the patience of foreign governments, even those that offer some sympathy for its self-sabotage. With Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior members of the democratically elected government still locked up, the reality facing the generals is they will never beat her at any election. They are still betting that eventually the world – and, most importantly, their near neighbours – will lose interest and allow some type of partial rehabilitation. Maintaining links with China and Russia is a key strategy. Still, there’s no obvious path to fuller inclusion in ASEAN while the generals unleash such violence against their own people. The extension of the state of emergency and postponement of hypothetical elections will further invigorate resistance forces hoping to steadily weaken the army’s grip on power. A pointless reduction in the jail sentences for Myanmar’s democratically elected leaders is unlikely to quell the fires of opposition now burning across the country..."
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Source/publisher: "The Conversation" (Melbourne)
Date of entry/update: 2023-08-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Dr Yanghee Lee, the former United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, told CNA’s Asia Tonight on Tuesday (Aug 1) the move signals that the military-controlled government, led by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, is “really out of ideas and really at the end of the rope” in managing the country.
Description: "Reducing the jail term of Myanmar's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is part of the military junta’s attempt to seek international recognition as the country's legitimate government, said Dr Yanghee Lee, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Myanmar. The move signals that the military-controlled government led by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is “really out of ideas and really at the end of the rope”, she told CNA’s Asia Tonight on Tuesday (Aug 1). Reducing the jail term of Myanmar's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is part of the military junta’s attempt to seek international recognition as the country's legitimate government, said Dr Yanghee Lee, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Myanmar. The move signals that the military-controlled government led by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is “really out of ideas and really at the end of the rope”, she told CNA’s Asia Tonight on Tuesday (Aug 1). “Reducing the sentence of a 78-year-old lady who had been locked up on bogus charges should not be seen as an act of contrition or a conciliatory gesture by the brutal generals,” said Dr Lee, who took on the UN role from 2014 to 2020. Her comments came hours after Ms Aung San Suu Kyi was pardoned on five of the 19 offences for which she was convicted and jailed a total of 33 years, reducing her jail term by six years. Former president Win Myint, who was also arrested at the same time as Ms Aung San Suu Kyi after the 2021 coup, was also pardoned on some of the charges for which he was convicted. The military junta has struggled for control in Myanmar, as conflict continues to break out across the country and its economy grapples with rising inflation. On Monday, the military-controlled government had extended the country’s state of emergency by another six months, delaying elections that were promised. SEEKING INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION Dr Lee said the pardon was “just another one of the schizophrenic behaviours of Min Aung Hlaing”, as the military resorted to its decades-old playbook. “They think that reducing sentences for Aung San Suu Kyi and the president U Win Myint will first of all get some of the support of the people, and more importantly, get them international recognition,” she said. “It’s like a coating, a veneer, so that the international community can recognise them as a legitimate government of Myanmar.” She noted that the military junta does not have control over the country, with over 50 per cent of the country under the control of the local ethnic groups. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing had acknowledged that much of the nation is not under full military control, with fighting continuing in Sagaing, Magway, Bago and Tanintharyi regions, as well as Karen, Kayah and Chin states. The military junta will be aiming to be recognised as the country’s legitimate government, especially with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and the UN General Assembly session coming up later this year. INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY RESPONSE “I think it's time that the international community really wakes up and sees that what he (Min Aung Hlaing) is doing has been a decades-old trick, and will not get him far enough because he will never have the support of the people,” said Dr Lee. Dr Lee added that she has been surprised by the international community’s response to the Myanmar crisis as compared to the war in Ukraine. She said the international community has been generous with aid for Ukraine, as it is seen as a “country-to-country invasion … and it's in the backyard of the European continent”. “But when it comes to Myanmar, it's the same thing. Min Aung Hlaing and the military have invaded its own people. It's not just a coup,” said Dr Lee. “There has been an average of 30 airstrikes per month recently. 85 per cent of the casualties are civilian, and millions of people have been displaced.” She noted that the junta is employing the same tactics it had used against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017 when driving them away, which is to burn their villages, schools and places of worship. DOES IT MATTER TO THE MYANMAR PEOPLE? Dr Lee said that Ms Aung San Suu Kyi’s pardon will not affect the Myanmar people’s fight against the junta. “I think the people of Myanmar have moved on. Aung San Suu Kyi is still very much respected. However, the fight now is the people's fight (and) the young generation’s,” she said. “The people have now been united. They are built on solid consolidation and solidarity across ethnic lines and across generation lines. The Bamar people cannot fight this war by themselves without the ethnic communities, and the ethnic communities are now joining hands with the Bamar and the young generation.” The Bamar is Myanmar's largest ethnic group, accounting for 68 per cent of the country's population. Dr Lee said that the young generation are fighting for a dream that has existed since their parents’ time, which is for a “free democratic federal Myanmar”. “Aung San Suu Kyi’s pardon may not and definitely will not affect the young people's minds, because they are fighting for their lives, to defend their family and their country and their hope and their aspirations,” she said..."
Source/publisher: "Channel NewsAsia" (Singapore)
2023-08-02
Date of entry/update: 2023-08-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Sky News understands the clemency will not fully pardon ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi - and that five charges against her have been dropped, while 14 remain.
Description: "Myanmar's junta says it has pardoned ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi for some of the offences she denies - more than two years after she was detained as part of a military coup. Sky News understands the clemency will not fully pardon her and that five charges have been dropped, while 14 remain. The Nobel laureate, who last week moved from prison to house arrest in the capital, Naypyitaw, has been in detention since the military seized power in a coup in early 2021. According to local media, Ms Suu Kyi was taken to a government building last Monday. She had spent a year in solitary confinement. However, speaking on Tuesday morning, her youngest son Kim Aris told Sky News: "It's important to take any news with a healthy level of scepticism. "Few days ago it was rumoured she was moved to home arrest. Sources suggest to me that she's still in prison." He added: "Also, given that all the charges against my mother are without any substance, any reduction in her sentence is completely meaningless. Ms Suu Kyi is appealing against the convictions for various offences ranging from incitement and election fraud to corruption. The 78-year-old denies all of the charges. Myanmar Radio and Television reported the pardons on Tuesday but an informed source said she would remain in detention. "She won't be free from house arrest," said the source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, according to Reuters news agency. Read more from Stuart Ramsay for Sky News: Getting inside Myanmar was a risk worth taking Former President Win Myint also had his sentence reduced as part of the clemency granted to more than 7,000 prisoners, which reportedly saw prison terms reduced in a religious ceremony. The head of Myanmar's military council, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, granted the clemency order to reduce the sentences in five cases against Ms Suu Kyi in which she was convicted for violating coronavirus restrictions, illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies and sedition, according to a report on state MRTV. The clemency was announced a day after Myanmar's military extended the state of emergency it imposed when it seized power from Ms Suu Kyi's elected government, forcing a further delay in elections it promised when it took over. Ms Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar's independence hero, was first put under house arrest in 1989 after huge protests against decades of military rule. In 1991, she won the Nobel Peace Prize for campaigning for democracy but was only fully released from house arrest in 2010. She won the 2015 election, held as part of tentative military reforms that were brought to a halt by the 2021 coup..."
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Source/publisher: "Sky News" (London)
2023-08-01
Date of entry/update: 2023-08-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The leaders of the deposed democratic government shouldn’t be in jail at all.
Description: "Myanmar’s generals have long demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to remember everything, and to learn nothing. Sometimes this serves them well. Much of the world, when it thinks of Myanmar at all, neither remembers nor learns. So on Tuesday we see an announcement by Myanmar’s ruling junta that it is to reduce the prison sentences of some key officials of the democratic government it overthrew in February 2021. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor of the government elected in a landslide in November 2020, had six years shaved off her 33-year sentence. Myanmar’s deposed President, U Win Myint, saw his sentence reduced by four years. Reductions in the sentences of other political prisoners are also likely in the offing. The sentence reductions come one day after the military junta extended the state of emergency under which it claims to rule, by a further six months. This was the fourth such extension, and in breach of its own constitution that limits such extensions to two. The junta is weakened by its inability to surmount the opposition to its rule, and even the extreme brutality it has resorted to has done little to consolidate control. Cynics, the ignorant, the gullible, and various vested interests in military rule in Myanmar will loudly exclaim this news as a positive development signifying real change. It is not. Neither Daw Suu, President Win Myint, nor any of the other political prisoners being ill-treated in Myanmar’s awful jails should be there at all. The charges they were convicted on are absurd, the judicial processes under which they were reached a travesty. This is all out of an old playbook in Myanmar. The junta is weakened by its inability to surmount the opposition to its rule, and even the extreme brutality it has resorted to has done little to consolidate control. Beyond Russia and (sometimes) China, the junta is without friends. Running out of foreign exchange, of troops to sacrifice, and of ideas beyond base instincts, the junta is attempting an old public relations game and hoping an exhausted and distracted world might fall for it. The past two-and-a-half-years of military rule in Myanmar has brought about unprecedented destruction, the death of thousands and the displacement of three million. Neighbouring countries once more host desperate refugees from Myanmar. Myanmar’s economy is in a state of collapse, with most people (in rural areas especially) reduced to little more than subsistence. The country has become a base for criminality – partly via the dramatic reinvigoration of the country as a producer of narcotics, partly via new cyber-crime hubs that constitute surely the one and only area of innovation in the country. Myanmar’s problems will not be solved by reducing the prison sentences on people who should never have been sentenced in the first place. Real change is possible in Myanmar, but it will not come from applauding meaningless gestures, as attractive as they might be as “click-bait”. As with such online temptations broadly, best not to hit the like button until there is truly something to be happy about..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Interpreter"
2023-08-01
Date of entry/update: 2023-08-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "(CNN )— Myanmar’s ruling military junta has pardoned Aung San Suu Kyi on five charges for which she was previously convicted, reducing the lengthy sentences handed down to the deposed, democratically elected leader after generals seized control of the Southeast Asian nation. The pardon was announced by Aung Lin Dwe, the secretary of the regime’s governing body, and further details were confirmed by a source with direct knowledge of the case. The five charges pardoned include offenses against defamation, natural disaster laws, export and import laws and the country’s telecommunication law, the source told CNN. Myanmar’s military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said Suu Kyi’s jail sentence would be reduced by six years, he said speaking to the media on camera on Tuesday. It’s unclear how many years Suu Kyi now faces in prison. The source CNN earlier spoke to with direct knowledge of the case said her sentence had been reduced by 9 years on Tuesday, and that there were prior reductions already made to the amount of time she would have to serve. Nonetheless Suu Kyi still faces the prospect of decades without liberty, an outcome that has permeated her long political career trying to bring democracy to Myanmar. As of the end of 2022, the 78-year-old faced a total of 33 years in jail, including three years of hard labor, for multiple convictions including electoral fraud and receiving bribes. Suu Kyi led Myanmar for five years before being forced from power and detained after her party was re-elected in a landslide election against military-backed opposition. Army general Min Aung Hlaing seized power at that time in February 2021, ending Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy, imprisoning multiple opposition figures and plunging the impoverished Southeast Asian nation into a raging civil conflict that continues to this day. Battles between the military and resistance groups unfold daily across the country. Airstrikes and ground attacks on what the military calls “terrorist” targets occur regularly and have killed thousands of civilians, often including children, according to monitoring groups. Whole villages have been burned down by junta soldiers and schools, clinics and hospitals destroyed as a result of the attacks, according to local monitoring groups. Suu Kyi, who spent decades under house arrest during a previous military junta and has been a symbol of opposition to decades of military rule, has denied all of the charges levied against her – and rights groups and international observers say her convictions are politically motivated. As of Tuesday, Suu Kyi still faces sentences for 14 other offenses of which she was convicted, the source said. The announcement comes as Myanmar’s Supreme Court is set to hear appeals by Suu Kyi against multiple convictions over the next two weeks. The source told CNN those appeals will still go ahead. The United Nations Security Council last year called on the junta to release all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi and former President Win Myint..."
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Source/publisher: "CNN" (USA)
2023-08-01
Date of entry/update: 2023-08-01
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Sub-title: The 78-year-old leader is now reportedly being detained at a government building in Naypyidaw.
Description: "Myanmar’s military government has transferred deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi from prison to a government building in the capital Naypyidaw, an official from her party has confirmed, three days ahead of the expected extension of the current state of emergency. The AFP news agency cited an anonymous official from Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party that the 78-year-old Nobel laureate was “moved to a high-level venue compound on Monday night.” The NLD official confirmed earlier reports from Burmese-language media that Aung San Suu Kyi, whose government was removed by the military in February 2021, has been transferred to housing used by government officials. Rumors to this effect have swirled since the junta allowed Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai to meet Aung San Suu Kyi on July 9. The party official also confirmed to AFP that Aung San Suu Kyi had met Ti Khun Myat, the former speaker of parliament, and was likely to meet Deng Xijun, China’s special envoy for Asian Affairs, who it reported is visiting the country this week. The transfer comes ahead of the expected extension of the country’s state of emergency on Monday. Initially imposed for a period of one year following the coup, the state of emergency has since been extended twice – Monday’s extension would be the third – a testament to the level of resistance that it has since faced. Aung San Suu Kyi has been under tight control since the morning of the coup, which took place as she and other NLD lawmakers were preparing to be sworn into office at the parliament in Naypyidaw. After initially keeping her under house arrest at her residence in the capital, the junta put the 78-year-old ousted leader in solitary confinement in Naypyidaw Prison in June of last year. During that time, she has been sentenced to 33 years in prison on a number of outlandish criminal charges, including corruption, possession of illegal walkie-talkies, and the violation of COVID-19 restrictions. Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month. What this all means is hard to say. Nikkei Asia reported that there is “speculation the military could make further announcements regarding Suu Kyi next week, coinciding with the consecration of a new marble statue of Buddha in Naypyitaw on Tuesday.” The Buddha in question is the $7.6 million Maravijaya statue, purported to be the tallest marble sitting Buddha in the world, which is due to be inaugurated in the capital on August 2. It is hard to imagine that the transfer of Aung San Suu Kyi into slightly a less austere form of detention marks a sign of the junta’s genuine desire for reconciliation with forces that it has described as “terrorists” and pledged to eliminate by force. Like the military’s account of Aung San Suu Kyi’s meeting with Don Pramudwinai earlier this month, in which it claimed that she disavowed the anti-junta resistance and the National Unity Government (of which she is the titular head), this is probably best seen as an attempt to leverage Aung San Suu Kyi’s potent symbolic status in order to win over public sentiment and to ease mounting international pressure. For years, the military has been well aware of Aung San Suu Kyi’s totemic image at home and abroad, and sought to manipulate it to its own advantage. Indeed, the NLD leader’s willingness to endorse the military-led process of reform in the early 2010s was among the primary factors for Western governments going along and ultimately removing the economic sanctions and investment bans that they had erected since the 1990s. Angshuman Choudhury of India’s Centre for Policy Research today described the move as “literally a leaf out of the junta’s old, deadbeat playbook – designed to placate international audiences, quieten the resistance at home & sow divisions within the revolution.” Whether this gambit will have quite the same effect remains to be seen. In the West, Aung San Suu Kyi’s glow was tarnished considerably by her apparent collusion in the military’s vicious assaults against the Rohingya populations of western Myanmar. At home, too, the resistance to military rule, while still drawing inspiration from Aung San Suu Kyi, is no longer quite so reliant on her person and has in many ways moved above the old paradigm of political resistance with which she is inseparable. All this is to say that the shift of Myanmar’s most prominent political prisoner out of solitary confinement may represent a tactical shift on the part of the country’s military, but not a fundamental shift in its desired end goal..."
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Source/publisher: "The Diplomat" (Japan)
2023-07-28
Date of entry/update: 2023-07-28
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Description: "July 26 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government may move ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest in the capital, Naypyitaw, two media outlets reported on Wednesday. The 78-year-old Nobel laureate has been in detention since her arrest in early 2021 when the military overthrew her elected government in a coup and unleashed a bloody crackdown on opponents that has seen thousands jailed or killed. The Associated Press cited an unidentified security official as saying the move was an act of clemency to prisoners as part of a religious ceremony due next week. The BBC Burmese-language service cited a "source close to the prison" as saying she may have already been moved to a house usually used by government officials. Reuters could not independently verify the reports or Suu Kyi's whereabouts. A spokesman for Myanmar's ruling military was not immediately available for comment. Suu Kyi's lawyers and a spokesperson for the shadow National Unity Government, which opposes military rule, could not confirm the reports. "News of improvements in conditions is welcome, but does not change her status as a prisoner of conscience," said NUG spokesperson Kyaw Zaw. Suu Kyi is appealing sentences adding up to 33 years in detention after being convicted of offences ranging from incitement and election fraud to corruption, charges she denies. Many Western governments have condemned the junta's treatment of Suu Kyi and others, calling for their release. This month, Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said he had recently met Suu Kyi, the first foreign official to be granted access to her since she was detained more than two years ago. The meeting came as Southeast Asian's regional grouping ASEAN struggled to agree on an approach on how to end the crisis in fellow member Myanmar. The daughter of Myanmar's independence hero was first put under house arrest in 1989 after huge protests against decades of military rule. In 1991, she won the Nobel Peace Prize for campaigning for democracy but was only fully released from house arrest in 2010. She swept a 2015 election, held as part of tentative military reforms that were brought to a halt by the 2021 coup..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2023-07-26
Date of entry/update: 2023-07-26
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Sub-title: Kim Aris has spoken to Sky News as a civil war rages in the country two years after his mother was removed as leader in a military coup.
Description: "International governments should impose "tougher sanctions" on Myanmar and restrict its military from accessing aviation fuel, the son of the country's ousted leader has said. Kim Aris' mother Aung San Suu Kyi was the head of Myanmar's government before she was arrested during a military coup in the country in 2021. He has spoken to Sky News after chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay and his team went undercover deep in the jungle in Myanmar to report on the civil war which has been raging in the country since the coup. They spent a month in Myanmar with resistance fighters, medics and volunteers who are fighting a war the military regime claims isn't happening. Asked why international governments are not speaking about the war in Myanmar as much as people in the country would hope, Mr Aris said: "Unfortunately, I think it's kind of an indication of the disinterest of people in what's going on on the other side of the world... Until people themselves start to get involved, the governments aren't likely to do anything." He added that governments have "condemned what's happening" but now need to take more meaningful steps. Asked what measures those might be, Mr Aris said: "Tougher sanctions would help, and making sure the military are restricted or completely cut off from aviation fuel and those kinds of things. "This would help immensely. "And just being able to get aid to the people who need it. At the moment, the military are cutting off all aid to everybody." Advertisement Mr Aris's call to restrict Myanmar's access to aviation fuel comes as the military is using fighter jets to bomb targets during the civil war. He cited a report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights which says China and Russia are the main suppliers of advanced weapons to Myanmar's military. 'No concrete news of Suu Kyi's whereabouts' Mr Aris grew up in the UK with his mother in the early years of his life and remained in Britain when she returned to Myanmar as a political figure who promoted democracy and human rights. He told Sky News the last time he spoke to his mother was before her government was overthrown more than two years ago. Mr Aris continued: "Yes. I haven't really received any concrete news about her whereabouts and I haven't had any communication with her since before the coup. "So despite my requests for official channels, I haven't received any response. "It is hard, but I'm kind of used to it, having lived with this most of my life." Myanmar's military rulers repeatedly imprisoned Suu Kyi under house arrest between 1989 and 2010 as they viewed her as someone undermining the peace and stability of the country. However, following her release from house arrest for the final time she became state counsellor, the title for the de facto leader equivalent to a prime minister, in 2016. Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders led a democratic experiment in the country before it was crushed by the military coup in 2021. Their government was overthrown and she was arrested alongside others..."
Source/publisher: "Sky News" (London)
2023-07-19
Date of entry/update: 2023-07-19
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Description: "Nearly 100 people, most of them women, were arrested in Myanmar for wearing, holding, selling or buying flowers on Monday, the 78th birthday of detained civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It was another sign of how complete the loss of human rights has been in Myanmar in less than two-and-a-half years since the coup. The regime’s detention of women wearing, holding, buying or selling flowers on Monday followed a call by resistance forces to stage a nationwide flower strike on the birthday of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She was arrested by the regime on the first day of the coup in February 2021 and is being detained in Naypyitaw prison. She has been sentenced by a military council court to a total of 33 years in prison in 19 cases. Many Myanmar people at home and abroad embraced the call for a flower strike by wearing flowers to show their support for a civilian leader who almost always wore flowers before she was jailed. About 40 women were detained by the regime for wearing flowers in the central market of Sagaing Region’s Kale Town. In Yangon’s Kamayut Township, 15 women who wore or held flowers were arrested by the regime troops, according to the Kamayut Information group. Video footage shows armed regime troops checking pedestrians near a shopping mall in in the township and arresting two women who were holding flowers. Regime troops also arrested three flower vendors and two women wearing flowers in a market in the Township, the Kamayut Information Group said. Elderly, middle aged and young women were arrested, it said. “We heard that three flower vendors were released last night, but the fate of the others is still unknown,” a member of Kamayut Information Group told The Irrawaddy. The regime arrested 13 women staff at Thamardi gold shop in Yangon for wearing roses. A man from Yangon’s Mingaladon Township was arrested on Monday. He was accused of participating in the flower strike. About 20 women from Myit Nge Township in Mandalay Region were arrested on Monday for wearing flowers, according to local residents. Wearing flowers is not a crime, said Ma Zu Zu, a joint secretary of the Burmese Women’s Union. It is an individual right and no one can ban this, she said. “Almost all women wear flowers in Myanmar and it is natural. So, they take part in flower strikes, but the military is afraid of women’s involvement in revolution. Therefore, they repress people with fear,” Ma Zu Zu told The Irrawaddy. The junta’s enthusiasts on Telegram urged it to arrest 20 people, 13 women and seven men, for participating in the flower strike..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2023-06-20
Date of entry/update: 2023-06-20
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Sub-title: Businessman she’s accused of accepting money from testified he donated to educational and healthcare foundation
Description: "Myanmar’s Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal of two corruption charges, sources close to the court told Radio Free Asia. Suu Kyi, 77, was sentenced by a military junta court in October to three years in Naypyidaw Prison for two corruption cases that involved charges of accepting money from Maung Weik, a businessman linked to the military. Maung Weik has testified that that money was not given to Suu Kyi, but donated to be used at the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, which supports education, healthcare and rural investment. Suu Kyi’s lawyers have argued that she’s innocent of corruption because the money that Maung Weik gave was found in the foundation’s bank account. The reason for the Union Supreme Court’s denial of the appeal was unknown. “The right to appeal is in Article 19 of the Constitution. The right to appeal must be given to anybody,” a court source who has knowledge of the decision said. “It’s ridiculous that the Union Supreme Court did not even grant an appeal.” The Nobel Peace Prize winner served as Myanmar’s state counselor from 2016 up until the Feb. 1, 2021, coup. She has been sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison in 19 cases. Suu Kyi's lawyers filed an appeal to the Union Supreme Court on Tuesday for five cases in which Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were accused of buying and leasing a helicopter under the NLD government. They were sentenced on those charges in December..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2023-02-15
Date of entry/update: 2023-02-15
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Sub-title: To comply, the NLD would need to declare that it is in no way associated with the CRPH or NUG, and dismiss jailed officials including Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint
Description: "While Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint serve decades-long jail sentences meted out in farcical court proceedings that followed a military coup in early 2021, their National League for Democracy (NLD)—the country’s largest and most popular party—is in disarray. Hundreds of NLD officials have been incarcerated, some even tortured to death in military interrogation centres. The party’s headquarters in Yangon and its offices throughout the country have been repeatedly vandalised by individuals presumed to be affiliated with the military. On Thursday, the military published a legal statute seen as a final blow to the party. The Political Parties Registration Law, enacted under the order of coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, requires all of Myanmar’s existing political parties to re-register with the military-appointed election commission within a period of 60 days. Those who fail to do so will be abolished, and the party’s assets confiscated. The NLD’s leadership has already declared that they will not re-register with the junta’s electoral body, which is headed by a former military official who chaired the same commission under a previous dictator, Than Shwe. However, even if the NLD chooses to re-register, it would likely make no difference: the junta law states that no political party may have as its members individuals who are serving jail terms or who are affiliated with entities designated by the military as “unlawful associations.” Many NLD MPs elected in 2020 formed the parliamentary body known as Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), and others hold positions in the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG). Both have been declared as “terrorist groups” by the junta. In order to comply with the coup regime’s party membership requirements, the NLD would need to declare that the party is in no way associated with the CRPH or the NUG, and dismiss Suu Kyi, Win Myint and many other jailed officials from its ranks. It is not a new condition, and was once featured in an older party registration law enacted in 2010 under the rule of former military ruler Than Shwe. At that time, Suu Kyi was under house arrest and the country was on the brink of a military-orchestrated transition to a “discipline-flourishing” democracy after decades of army rule. The NLD’s senior leadership opted not to dismiss Suu Kyi and other jailed party members and refused to re-register the party, resulting in an automatic boycott of the general election in the country. It also led some of the top party leaders to leave and establish a breakaway group called the National Democratic Force (NDF). Two prominent NDF figures, Khin Maung Swe and Thein Nyunt, are now members of the junta. This controversial clause in the party registration law was obviously designed to prevent the NLD from contesting the election in November 2010; the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), led by former army generals, unsurprisingly declared a landslide victory. After Suu Kyi was released from house arrest one week after the 2010 vote, ex-general Thein Sein—who had become the President in the USDP-led administration—removed the controversial requirement from the electoral law. The gesture followed a highly publicised meeting with Suu Kyi in August 2011—part of an effort to demonstrate to both domestic and international audiences that the country’s political transition was genuine and substantive. The change in the law paved the way for Suu Kyi to re-register the NLD as a party and contest the parliamentary by-elections in 2012. It was a move for which she and the NLD faced objections from some senior colleagues and civil society organisations for seemingly legitimising a political system guided by the undemocratic and military-drafted 2008 Constitution. Thursday’s newly-enacted law by Min Aung Hlaing restores the old clause that once kept the NLD at bay. It serves as a conclusion to an incident of historical rapprochement between the military establishment and the country’s main political opposition dating back more than a decade, and which formed the basis of Myanmar’s short-lived political liberalisation. Speaking to the BBC’s Burmese language service, military council spokesperson Zaw Min Tun denied that the law was designed to persecute the NLD. “We don’t have the intention of targeting any particular party,” he said. The fate of the NLD, he added, “is mainly in its own hands.” NLD spokesperson Tun Myint, now in exile, explained that he remains positive about the future of the party, even when asked by Myanmar Now about the junta law that again disqualifies them from governing. He noted that the NLD had overcome several challenges since its establishment following the democratic uprising in 1988. “Our party’s survival relies on public support. Since we will continue to reflect the will of the public, we have every confidence that we will survive,” he said. One party rule If the NLD is abolished, the USDP—headed by Khin Yi, a former police chief who recently served as the junta’s immigration minister—will be the dominant party in the country. Myanmar Now previously reported that Khin Yi was assigned by Min Aung Hlaing to take on the party’s chairmanship role in order to quell internal tension between the junta chief and the USDP’s former leadership. The move was seen as a step toward ensuring that Min Aung Hlaing would be able to rely on the party to support his political ambitions. In this increasingly restrictive context, ethnic political parties may also find themselves marginalised, barred from contesting the elections at a national level. A clause in the junta’s new law requires parties which intend to run in more than one state or region to enlist at least 100,000 members within 90 days of registering with the military-appointed election commission or face de-registration. Opting to register as “regional parties” allows these entities to mobilise just 1,000 members, but then limits them to running in constituencies in one chosen state or region. One of the largest and most prominent ethnic political parties, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), has its largest support base in Shan State, but also traditionally contests in other areas with sizable ethnic Shan populations, such as Kachin State. SNLD general secretary Sai Leik said that his party’s central executive committee members would need to convene a meeting in order to decide whether to re-register the party under the military council’s terms. He pointed out that the junta’s electoral law would ensure that the Union parliament would be dominated by the USDP, as well as the military itself, which holds 25 percent of seats in all legislatures in accordance with the 2008 Constitution it drafted. “The new law will merely intensify the competition between regional parties for a greater number of seats [in the state and regional parliaments], while our representation at the Union level will be seriously weakened,” Sai Leik said. “Only the military, the USDP and a few other parties backed by the military will remain significant in the Union parliament.”..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2023-01-27
Date of entry/update: 2023-01-27
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Description: "France condemns in the strongest possible terms the new seven-year prison sentence imposed today on State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi following arbitrary legal proceedings that aim to discredit a democratically elected civilian political figure. This sentence is an additional indication of the military regime’s contempt for the rule of law and the will of the Burmese people, which was freely and unequivocally expressed in the general elections that took place on November 8, 2020. France reiterates its commitment to seeing the establishment of a political dialogue that includes the democratic opposition, including the National League for Democracy and its historic leaders, which is a crucial prerequisite for any resolution to the crisis. As was demanded by the UN Security Council in its resolution 2669, France reiterates its call for the immediate, unconditional release of all those who are being arbitrarily detained, including State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, as well as its call for an end to the violence committed by Myanmar’s security forces. France reaffirms its support for the efforts of ASEAN and its Special Envoy as well as those of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations..."
Source/publisher: French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2023-01-03
Date of entry/update: 2023-01-03
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Description: "Responding to the latest seven-year sentence handed down to Aung San Suu Kyi for alleged corruption, Amnesty International’s Regional Director Meg de Ronde said: “From start to finish, the trumped-up cases against Aung San Suu Kyi have been politically motivated, unfair, and completely lacking in anything resembling transparency. The same goes for the charges against the thousands of others languishing behind bars in Myanmar’s notorious prisons and interrogation facilities across the country. “Since seizing power almost two years ago, Myanmar’s military has turned the courts and prison system into a human rights inferno in which journalists, activists, politicians, doctors, protesters and many others are jailed for nothing more than peacefully expressing dissent. “The fact that this verdict comes less than 10 days after a rare rebuke from the UN Security Council demanding an end to the violence and the release of arbitrarily detained prisoners shows that more pressure on the Myanmar military is needed and fast. “The UN Security Council should impose a comprehensive arms embargo, including on aviation fuel, and targeted sanctions against military leaders. The international community can and must do more to support the people of Myanmar.” Background: Ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s latest conviction on corruption charges on 30 December 2022 means she faces a total of 33 years in prison, according to reports. Suu Kyi was arbitrarily detained at the start of the coup on 1 February, 2021. Myanmar’s military has arrested more than 16,000 people since the start of the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. It has also executed four people in its first use of the death penalty in decades..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2022-12-30
Date of entry/update: 2022-12-30
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Description: "This Friday, a military-controlled court in Myanmar delivered its final verdicts against detained President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, concluding a series of purely politically motivated trials conducted in the course of the past thirteen months. These trials were carried forward with no respect for due legal procedure or necessary judicial guarantees and are a clear attempt to exclude democratically elected leaders from political life. Win Myint and Aung San Suu Kyi face a total of 12 and 33 years’ imprisonment respectively, including 3 years of hard labour, representing another blatant violation of human rights in Myanmar. The European Union strongly condemns these trials, verdicts and the overall dismantlement of democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar. EU’s position remains that only a genuine dialogue involving Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy, the National Unity Government, civil society and all other relevant stakeholders in Myanmar can lead the way out of the deep crisis in the country and restore the path towards democracy. The EU also expresses its deep concern over the large number of persons arbitrarily detained and reiterates its urgent call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners. As the second anniversary of the military coup of 1 February 2021 is approaching, the military regime’s actions continue to show a complete contempt for human dignity and the will of the people. The EU reiterates its full support for ASEAN efforts to promote a peaceful resolution of the crisis in Myanmar, including the inclusive dialogue called for by ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus..."
Source/publisher: European External Action Service
2022-12-30
Date of entry/update: 2022-12-30
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Description: "Myanmar’s detained democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is facing several health issues in solitary confinement, ranging from an irregular heartbeat to festering insect bites. The 77-year-old civilian leader had to undergo a medical check-up in early September after her heart rate quickened, according to sources familiar with the case. She had no history of heart problems previously. Before the coup, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was in excellent shape for her age, and had no problems with her kidneys, heart, lungs, stomach, liver or other vital organs. However, her physical condition has started to decline since she was moved from house arrest to solitary confinement in Naypyitaw Prison in June this year, the sources said. Moreover, she has developed itchy lumps due to insect bites. Some of these have begun to fester because the water inside the prison is not clean. Food provided by the prison is lousy, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has to make do with bread and milk, as well as nutritional supplements like Ensure. The poor nutrition is taking a toll on her physical condition. She is being kept in a small building in the prison compound in Naypyitaw, where daytime temperatures are high. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi asked for six curtains to ward off the heat, but prison authorities only gave her three. She also has to attend four trial hearings every week in cases filed against her by the regime. The regime has detained Daw Aung San Suu Kyi since the coup in February last year and filed 20 charges against her, including 13 corruption cases. As of Sept. 2, a regime court had sentenced her to a total of 20 years and she still faces other charges. If she is found guilty of all charges, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will have to spend the rest of her life in prison. Local and international observers see it as a deliberate strategy by the junta to remove her from politics once and for all..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-09-14
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "France utterly condemns the new prison sentence, with hard labour, imposed on State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. This new sentence is arbitrary and politically motivated. It was delivered by a judicial system in the hands of generals and shows the junta’s contempt for the rule of law and fundamental rights. The electoral fraud accusation on which the sentence is based aims only to justify the coup d’état of 1 February 2021, which goes against the will of the Burmese people expressed democratically in the general election of 8 November 2020. This decision makes the prospect of political dialogue requested by the international community, in which Aung San Suu Kyi must be involved, even more distant. The regime, which resulted from the coup, has no legitimacy. France reiterates its call for the immediate, unconditional release of all those people being arbitrarily detained, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. It maintains its support for the action of ASEAN and its special envoy, and the efforts of the United Nations Secretary-General’s special envoy, and recalls that the establishment of a political dialogue including the democratic opposition is an essential requirement for finding any way out of the crisis..."
Source/publisher: Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs
2022-09-05
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Ousted leader’s estranged brother has won a court case allowing villa, considered a symbol of democracy in Myanmar, to be sold
Description: "The future of the lakeside villa in which Aung San Suu Kyi spent 15 years under house arrest is feared to be in jeopardy, after a court ruled in favour of her estranged brother, allowing the property to be sold. The colonial-style house at 54-56 University Avenue, which stands besides Yangon’s Inya Lake, is – for many in Myanmar – a symbol of the country’s struggle for democracy. For decades, however, Aung San Suu Kyi has been locked in a legal battle with her older brother Aung San Oo, an engineer who lives in the US, over ownership of the house. He first filed a legal suit in 2000, and the case has been examined by the courts multiple times since. The latest hearings proceeded as Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, was again imprisoned. She has been detained since February 2021, when the military ousted her government and took power in a coup. She has been accused of dozens of charges, which rights groups say are politically motivated. Hillary Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi walking together on the lawn in front of the villa Hillary Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi in the grounds of the house in 2011. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AP Aung San Oo told the Guardian that the recent decision by Myanmar’s supreme court in Naypyidaw had supported an earlier 2012 ruling that he was entitled to an equal share of the property. “In 2012 it was stated that if we cannot agree how to physically divide it up then it will be legal to auction off and split whatever money … The last court hearing a few weeks ago was to confirm that,” he said. Aung San Oo declined to confirm whether he has plans to sell the property, saying this was a private matter. He disagreed that it was a site of historic significance. The two-acre (0.8-hectare) property was given by the government to their mother, Khin Kyi, after their father, the independence hero general Aung San, was assassinated in 1947. Khin Kyi died in 1988, shortly after the military’s brutal crackdown on huge pro-democracy uprisings, which Aung San Suu Kyi had helped lead. Aung San Suu Kyi pictured in December 2019. Aung San Suu Kyi given six extra years in prison on corruption charges Read more Aung San Suu Kyi was first placed under house arrest in 1989, and would spend 15 years in the villa until 2010. Cut off from the world, she would listen to BBC radio for hours each day, read books and meditate. At weekends, she would give pro-democracy speeches from the villa, standing on top of a table to address vast crowds gathered outside the gate of the compound. Hundreds or even thousands would gather to hear her speak. Advertisement Later, President Barack Obama and then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton travelled to the villa to meet Aung San Suu Kyi during a historic visit. She has not lived in the house since her release in 2012. The property, though in a dilapidated condition, is estimated by Aung San Oo’s lawyer to be worth $90m, according to reports. Aung San Oo was unable to share court documents. Local media also reported the court had ruled in Aung San Oo’s favour. Last week, the national unity government (NUG), which was formed by elected lawmakers as well as civil society activists in opposition to the coup, said it had declared the house a site of national heritage, which would prevent its sale or destruction. Such a declaration cannot be enforced until the military junta is overthrown, however. “This is not just a house or property, this is the place where she was held for more than 15 years in her life,” said Dr Sasa, a spokesperson for the NUG. “This is a powerful symbol of hope for the people of Myanmar.” Aung San Suu Kyi was not given representation during the court’s latest proceedings regarding the house, he added. The court case is one of many Aung San Suu Kyi has faced over the past 18 months. A series of convictions in military-controlled courts since the coup have led to a total prison sentence of 20 years. Further cases against her are continuing and could lead to decades more time in prison..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
2022-09-05
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-05
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Description: "A military-run court in Myanmar has sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to a further three years in prison on election fraud charges, her lawyers have told the BBC. Ms Suu Kyi - the country's former leader - has now been sentenced to 20 years in prison on 11 counts, with several charges remaining. She denies all of the accusations, and the trials have been condemned by rights groups as politically-motivated. If convicted on all charges, she could face almost 200 years in prison. The new sentence included hard labour, her lawyers said. The 77-year-old Nobel laureate has spent most of her time in detention under house arrest in the capital Nay Pyi Taw. The public and media have had no access to the closed-door hearings and the military has prevented her lawyers from speaking to journalists. The court found her guilty of committing fraud in the November 2020 general election, which her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won overwhelmingly. The army launched a coup last year after alleging there had been massive voter fraud in the vote, but independent election observers said the poll was "representative of the will of the people". Civil rights and democracy groups have denounced the legal proceedings against Ms Suu Kyi and others as a farce. The UN has said she is facing a "sham trial". Myanmar's military regime says Ms Suu Kyi's trials are part of the legal process. A spokesperson for Amnesty International told the BBC that the military is using the legal system as "another convenient tool in its arsenal to smother dissent". "The relentless legal assault on Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the better-known examples of how the military has weaponised the courts to bring politically motivated or farcical charges against opponents, critics and protesters," the spokesperson said. The military's violent seizure of power last February triggered widespread demonstrations, prompting Myanmar's military to crack down on pro-democracy protesters, activists and journalists. Ms Suu Kyi - and many members of her party - are among more than 15,000 people who have been arrested by the junta since they seized power - 12,000 remain in prison, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). On Friday, the UK's former ambassador to Myanmar and her husband were sentenced to one year in prison each for violating immigration laws. Vicky Bowman, who served as the UK's envoy in Myanmar from 2002 to 2006, and artist Htein Lin were arrested last week at their home in Yangon..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "BBC News" (London)
2022-09-02
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-02
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Description: "Myanmar’s junta-controlled Supreme Court approved the sale of the family home of the country’s ousted leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday, approving a petition from her older brother U Aung San Oo to sell the house. The lakeside villa in Yangon is where Suu Kyi was held under house arrest for 15 years by the previous military regime, but has been the source of a bitter family dispute between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her estranged elder brother for decades. In 2000, while Suu Kyi was under house arrest, U Aung San Oo sued her claiming that the house was his. A real estate developer said that the villa, which sits on almost two acres of land in Yangon’s most prestigious neighborhood, is currently worth around US$27 million on the open market. U Aung San Oo’s case was initially thrown out by the courts, but he then filed a new suit, claiming joint ownership of the property. In 2016, a Yangon court ruled that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi owned the two-story building and half of the land, while another building on the property and half of the land belonged to her brother. In January 2019, U Aung San Oo appealed to the Supreme Court, petitioning for the auction of the residence and a share of the proceeds. His petition was approved by the junta-controlled Supreme Court on Monday, even as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is being held in solitary confinement in Naypyitaw Prison. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer has said that she intends to use the house as the base for the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a charity founded by her and named after her and her brother’s mother. The colonial-style house at 54 University Avenue on the shores of Yangon’s Inya Lake is a historic site. Suu Kyi received then US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the house in 2012. The 1.9-acre-strip of land was given by the then government to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s mother in 1947, following the assassination of her husband, independence hero General Aung San. Daw Khin Kyi lived in the house until her death in 1988..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-08-22
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-22
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Description: "Myanmar’s junta continues to pursue a baseless campaign against former leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the nation’s courts. But many others, like Sean Turnell, an Australian academic and advisor to Suu Kyi, have been caught in the political crossfire. On 15 August a special military court in Myanmar sentenced former government leader Aung San Suu Kyi to six years in prison for corruption, adding to the eleven years she was already serving. Given she is 77 years old, she will likely spend the rest of her life in detention if she serves these terms. But the military junta is not finished with her yet. She has been charged with at least 20 offences, including election fraud, corruption, and violating the Official Secrets Act. Very little is known about the cases since the trials take place in a closed court and her legal representatives are banned from talking to the media. After being deposed by a military coup in February 2021, Suu Kyi has spent most of the last year in an unknown location. In June, however, the military junta announced that she had been transferred to a prison compound in the isolated capital, Naypyidaw, and kept in solitary confinement. Sean Turnell, an Australian academic who was a close adviser of Suu Kyi, is also trapped in Myanmar’s partisan courts. As with Suu Kyi, he is charged with violating the Official Secrets Act and is being held in the Naypyidaw prison. On 11 August he faced court for the first time since his arrest eighteen months ago and pleaded not guilty to the charges. As with Suu Kyi his lawyers are unable to discuss the case and no details have been publicised. But it matters little what both Turnell and Suu Kyi plead during the court proceedings, nor what fabricated or fanciful evidence is deployed in their conviction. The junta has complete control of the courts with the judiciary beholden and loyal to the military. The aim of these cases is therefore not to establish guilt or innocence, or to seek justice. The guilty verdicts are predetermined. They are purely political kangaroo courts designed to sideline Suu Kyi from national politics for as long as the military considers it convenient. Turnell, as Suu Kyi’s close adviser, is collateral damage although he also serves as a useful bargaining chip for negotiations with the Australian government, which, almost alone amongst Western countries, has not sanctioned coup leader Min Aung Hlaing. The junta’s brutality and lack of regard for international norms and opinion was on show again in July when it executed four pro-democracy activists. The junta appears unable to act strategically in their own best interests, having alienated almost all potential allies, both domestically and internationally. The usually quite accommodating governments of ASEAN have increasingly criticised the regime and Russia, Myanmar’s main military supplier, barely registered a visit from Min Aung Hlaing. The military is facing legal jeopardy in international courts which are gradually clearing the paths towards prosecutions for genocide and other crimes against humanity. The junta’s brutal country-wide pacification strategy continues, with a recent assault on a village in Sagaing Region that included airstrikes from Mi-35 fighter jets and 60 soldiers dropped by helicopters. The bodies of 18 civilians were found after the attack, including a ten-year-old girl. Pro-democracy militias face off against the junta’s jets and choppers around the country with rifles and homemade explosives, although their local knowledge, particularly in the mountainous border regions, provides an advantage over the predominantly lowland military. The junta have over 12,000 political prisoners in detention and the prospects for the country and its people are bleak. The coup and its repercussions have undone a decade of reforms, which, while imperfect, transformed Myanmar. The country that the military took hostage in February 2021 is entirely different to that which existed prior to 2011, when the political and economic reform process began. While some ethnic groupings, notably the Rohingya, suffered appalling privations during the reform era, most of the country enjoyed freedoms that had never been experienced, or at least not for the preceding five decades under military rule. After the coup Myanmar is very reminiscent of its pre-2011 state, only this time with mobile phones. Academics and NGO workers endeavouring to support democracy and the people of Myanmar through local groups once again find themselves consigned to Thailand or Myanmar’s ethnically-controlled border zones; the “liberated areas” beyond the control of Myanmar’s military that were the bread and butter of activist research prior to 2011. When I was last in Myanmar, before COVID-19 and the coup, I caught up with Sean Turnell in Naypyidaw. He was, as always, amiable, humorous, and generous with his time. His hectic schedule as adviser to Suu Kyi and the government was chock full, addressing ten percent inflation along with “banks, money laundering, sanctions and the Chinese.” These issues seem almost trifling compared with the challenges now facing Myanmar’s people. While the Australian government and population should do everything in their power to support the democratising forces of Myanmar in general, as an Australian citizen, Sean’s grim predicament in Myanmar’s Kafkaesque court system must also not be forgotten..."
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Source/publisher: Australian Institute of International Affairs
2022-08-18
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-18
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Description: "France condemns the new prison sentence passed yesterday on State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi following another arbitrary procedure. Once again, the military junta is seeking to undermine the legitimacy of democratically elected opposition members, contrary to the constructive political dialogue the Burmese people and international community wish to see. France reiterates its call for the immediate, unconditional release of all arbitrarily detained prisoners and for the cessation of violence perpetrated by the Burmese security forces. It maintains its support for ASEAN, which at the beginning of the month reaffirmed a firm, unambiguous position vis-à-vis the military regime, and for the efforts of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar, whose role to find a way out of the crisis is more crucial than ever..."
Source/publisher: Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs
2022-08-16
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-16
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Description: "(CNN)A court in military-run Myanmar has sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to six more years in prison after convicting her on four extra counts of corruption, state media reported on Tuesday. The latest verdict in the series of secretive trials against the Nobel laureate takes her total jail term to 17 years and comes as the UN's Special Envoy on Myanmar traveled to the country on Monday to address the "deteriorating (rights) situation." Suu Kyi, who turned 77 in June, was previously found guilty of multiple offenses ranging from graft to election violations. n Monday, Suu Kyi was sentenced for charges of misusing funds from a charity to build a house and leasing government-owned land, according to the Myanmar News Agency (MNA). Three other former government officials were also sentenced to three years in prison on similar charges, state media said. Suu Kyi is being held in solitary confinement at a prison in the capital Naypyitaw and has denied all charges against her. International rights groups and world leaders have expressed concern about the deteriorating state of human rights in Myanmar and dismissed ongoing trials against Suu Kyi, calling them "unfair and unjust." "The Myanmar military junta's unjust conviction and sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi is part of its methodical assault on human rights around the country," said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a statement Monday. "The military's willingness to forcibly disappear the country's high-profile civilian leader reveals the brutality that lesser-known political prisoners face," Pearson said. Meanwhile, UN's Special Envoy on Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer, traveled to Myanmar on Monday to address the "deteriorating situation and immediate concerns," the UN said in a statement. "The Special Envoy's visit follows her extensive consultations with actors from across the political spectrum, civil society as well as communities affected by the ongoing conflict," the statement said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "CNN" (USA)
2022-08-16
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-16
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Description: "A Myanmar junta court sentenced the country’s ousted leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to an additional six years in prison on Monday, finding her guilty of further corruption charges, relating to a charity she founded in memory of her late mother. In the four corruption cases decided on Monday, a special court in Naypyitaw Prison, where Suu Kyi is being held in solitary confinement, said that the 77-year old leader of the National League for Democracy Party misused her power to rent public land at below market prices and to build a residence with donations intended for Suu Kyi’s charity, the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation. Sources close to the court said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi complained that the verdict was unfair and has asked her lawyers to appeal. Since her arrest following last year’s coup, the military regime has filed 20 charges against Suu Kyi, including 13 corruption cases. She faces a potential combined prison term of 164 years if found guilty of all 20 charges, with the regime seemingly determined to ensure that their politically-motivated charges keep Suu Kyi behind bars for the rest of her life. So far, she has been sentenced to 17 years in jail on six charges. In May, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to five years in prison for accepting bribes from the then Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein, who testified in October last year that he gave her seven viss (around 11.4kg) of gold and US$600,000 in 2017 and 2018. The verdict was based only U Phyo Min Thein’s testimony and there is no evidence of the gold or dollars being received by Suu Kyi..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-08-15
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "His Excellency Prak Sokhonn, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair on Myanmar, has conveyed to the State Administrative Council (SAC ) of the Union of Myanmar the "deep concern expressed by ASEAN colleagues" with regard to the report on the transfer of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from the home to a jail in Nay Pyi Taw and urged the SAC to facilitate her return to the home where she was originally detained. "I have no doubt that the same concern resonates beyond ASEAN, considering that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is regarded internationally and by many in Myanmar as having a critical role in your country's return to normalcy and national reconciliation through a peaceful political solution," wrote Deputy PM Prak Sokhonn in his recent letter to H.E. Wunna Maung Lwin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. In my capacity as the Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair on Myanmar, he continued, "I would like to echo the voice of our ASEAN colleagues in urging the State Administrative Council of Myanmar to exercise compassion and facilitate the return of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to the home where she was originally detained, in consideration of her fragile health and well-being, as well as fair and judicious practice of the rule of law." "We all share the view that a peaceful national reconciliation cannot be expected when one party to the conflict is taken out of the resolution equation," said the ASEAN Chair Special Envoy, underlining that 'Therefore, all our ASEAN colleagues strongly encourage the State Administrative Council of Myanmar to begin an inclusive process of national reconciliation without further delay". A peaceful political resolution to a conflict, no matter how complex it is, must involve the sharing of political space by all involved, he added..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia
2022-06-27
Date of entry/update: 2022-06-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Three days after her 77th birthday, Myanmar’s leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi found herself in a prison of one of the most ruthless regimes in the world. It’s hard for anyone to imagine themselves in her shoes—from a pro-democracy fighter to a prisoner, from a prisoner to the country’s elected leader, from the elected leader to a prisoner again. At this age, she must be the unluckiest person or politician in the world to be subject to solitary confinement in prison. Worse, she is a prisoner of a brutal and wicked regime. That’s her choice, however. Life is a choice. If it’s a fault, then it has been her fault since the start. Consciously, she chose this life. Since 1988, she has taken up the cause to fight for “the country’s second independence struggle”, in her own words, for her country and its people to be free from dictatorship. She must have known that one day her life was likely to end this way. At least, it must have occurred to her on Feb. 1, 2021 when she became a prisoner again when the military seized power after overthrowing her elected government. As a sensible and mindful person, she must since then have prepared to spend time alone in prison. Perhaps this time the 77-year-old was prepared for worse things, or even the worst—to face death behind bars—given the regime’s lengthy sentences against her. No doubt that is the final mission of her captors. She should have known that the junta and its chief Min Aung Hlaing himself were planning to end the political life she’s chosen, and her own life too, the one her mother brought into this world. She has been the biggest thorn in the side of the ruling generals ever since she first shook their grip on power. Thus, the generals tried to keep her away from politics with the punishments below: Detaining her under house arrest for 15 years over the past three decades. Annulling the electoral victories of her party. Overthrowing her elected government. Crippling her popular party. Slaying her supporters. Sentencing her to lengthy imprisonment terms. Keeping her under house arrest until recently. All these punishments were not enough. Sending her to prison on Wednesday was a part of their final mission. This time, the generals seriously intend to get rid of her, unlike before. A lucky thing for them now is her age. Min Aung Hlaing, his deputy generals and his former senior generals as mentors will feel lucky that soon they can rest assured she will draw her very last breath in prison. But for the people of Myanmar, they have lost their leader again after losing her repeatedly in the past following her multiple arrests. They can’t help appreciating her selfless efforts for their country. They can feel her true feeling for them. They respect her and love her. They voted for her whenever they got the chance to exercise their democratic right at polling stations. She and her party repeatedly won landslide victories over the past three decades.She is their sole representative. She is more representative than other elected leaders around the world. By sending their leader to prison it seems that the generals were punishing the people for voting for her. Whatever the junta did to her was done to the Myanmar people too. Annulling the 2020 election result was itself the junta’s attack on the people who voted for her party. The junta is waging a war against the people. The leader suffers and the people suffer too. To err is human, and she is no exception. She was wrong to believe in reconciliation with the military leaders. Totally wrong. But she was not alone. At that time, many believed that working with the military was the only option. That was a general idea or concept at that time—to try, as the best option, to rebuild the country together with the country’s most powerful institution. That notion lasted until the coup in 2021 but is now a relic of the past. The coup destroyed that political idea. People in Myanmar no longer accept it. Another thing she was wrong about was the generals’ genocidal intent. She didn’t think the generals had genocidal intent when their troops committed atrocities against the Rohingya in Rakhine State in 2017. In fact, Myanmar’s generals have not been professional military officers for a very long time. They long ago became “a bunch of thugs” killing innocent people, willing to destroy any ethnic people or any political group or party. After the coup last year, the genocidal intent with which they killed many people indiscriminately was shown again. The generals also proved that they are no more than a bunch of thugs. That’s what the people believe too. So most people have given up on the idea of negotiating with these thugs at all. What they all seek is to uproot the military and found a new army to serve the people. That’s what the people want their leader to understand too. No more reconciliation with that bunch of thugs. She must be with the people. Otherwise, she can’t represent the people. But history has proved that she is always a leader of the people. Because she is the one the thuggish generals fear most. That’s why she has been arrested and attacked much more than any other leading activist or politician in the country. She is the biggest enemy for them, as most people support her. That means she is on the right side of the people. She has continued to fight together with the people for what the people want. That’s why on her birthday on Sunday, even young protesters in urban areas and young resistance fighters in their military outfits celebrated her birthday as their leader. Let’s see if the ruthless generals will accomplish their final mission, which is against the people’s will. Previously, she has always survived the regime’s arrests, attempts to assassinate her and all of their wicked plots against her. She is thin but strong. She is old but determined. She is alone but mindful. She is locked up but peaceful..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-06-24
Date of entry/update: 2022-06-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Human Rights Watch says the moving of detained 77-year-old State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi into solitary confinement in Naypyitaw Prison is an attempt to break her will which will backfire. “What we are seeing is the Myanmar junta moving towards a much more punitive phase, towards Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for the New York-based NGO. “They are obviously trying to intimidate her and her supporters.” According to sources, the ousted leader predicted she would be transferred to prison and arranged to leave behind all her possessions not required for her trial. Agence France-Presse reported that she remained in strong spirits after being moved from house arrest on Wednesday, quoting a legal source. Robertson told AFP that the junta may think it is showing its strength but it will backfire and boost the resistance movement. Ko Bo Kyi of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners told The Irrawaddy: “They may think the prison is safer and maybe that it will trouble her more mentally and physically and disconnect her more from the environment.” The regime has held Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest since last year’s coup in which her government was ousted. It followed her resounding victory in the November 2020 general election. She has won in every election by a landslide she and her party have contested. The junta moved her to an unknown location in Naypyitaw in April 2021 where she was accompanied by a few of her staff and her dog. In solitary confinement, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will have three female prison staff. The Nobel peace laureate faces numerous charges, carrying a combined sentence of over 100 years. She remains hugely popular with the electorate. On Sunday resistance fighters, striking civil servants, anti-regime protesters, political prisoners and expats marked her 77th birthday and called for her release. Three days later, the state counselor was moved into solitary confinement. Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters on Thursday that the global body was “very concerned” for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. “The junta’s move goes against everything we’ve been calling for, which was her release and the release of all of the other political prisoners,” Dujarric said. Since the coup, the junta has detained more than 14,000 people, including elected leaders, lawmakers, activists, students, peaceful protesters and striking civil servants..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-06-24
Date of entry/update: 2022-06-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Dealing a new blow to detained Myanmar democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the military junta has ordered that she be moved to Naypyitaw Prison on Wednesday from an undisclosed location where she has been under house arrest, according to sources close to the matter. She will be held in solitary confinement in a small isolated building within the prison, the sources said. The Myanmar Police Force’s Special Branch informed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her lawyers of the transfer during a hearing on Tuesday at a special court in Naypyitaw, where she has been tried on more than a dozen charges filed by the regime. The reason for the transfer wasn’t clear yet. The regime has held Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who turned 77 on Sunday, under house arrest since the coup in February last year. It moved her to an unknown location in Naypyitaw in April 2021. Under the previous military regime she spent 15 years under house arrest, ending in 2011. It will be the second time she has been incarcerated in a prison. In 2009, the previous regime transferred Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from her home to Yangon’s Insein Prison for four months for violating the rules of her house arrest after an American intruded onto her property. After her move to Naypyitaw Prison on Wednesday, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s ongoing trials will be conducted at a special court inside the prison. So far the regime court has sentenced her to 11 years in prison. If found guilty on all counts, she will spend the rest of her life behind bars, as the charges carry a combined sentence of more than 100 years. Since her house arrest last year, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been assisted by seven people detained with her, and has had the companionship of her dog. It was not clear whether her aides would be released upon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s transfer to the prison. The move to the prison has prompted concerns about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s wellbeing, especially given her old age. On Wednesday, Myanmar’s detained President U Win Myint was also reportedly moved to Naypyitaw Prison from house arrest. The Irrawaddy was unable to independently confirm the report, however..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-06-22
Date of entry/update: 2022-06-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "၁။ ယနေ့ကျရောက်သော ပြည်သူ့ခေါင်းဆောင်၊ အမျိုးသားဒီမိုကရေစီအဖွဲ့ချုပ်၊ ဥက္ကဋ္ဌ ဒေါ်အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည်၏ (၇၇)နှစ်ပြည့် မွေးနေ့တွင် နိုင်ငံသူနိုင်ငံသားများနှင့်တကွ ကမ္ဘာသူ/ ကမ္ဘာသားများအားလုံး မင်္ဂလာအပေါင်းနှင့် ပြည့်ဝပါစေကြောင်း ဦးစွာဆုတောင်း မေတ္တာပို့သ အပ်ပါသည်။ ၂။ မိမိတို့နိုင်ငံတော်သည် ဒီမိုကရေစီရရှိနိုင်ရေးအတွက် နှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာကြာ နည်းလမ်း များစွာဖြင့် ကြိုးစားအားထုတ်ခဲ့ကြသော်လည်း အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကို အပြီးတိုင် အမြစ်ပြတ် အောင် လုပ်ဆောင်နိုင်ခြင်းမရှိသေးသည့်အတွက် ငြိမ်းချမ်းသော နိုင်ငံတော်ကို မတည် ဆောက်နိုင်သေးပါ။ သို့သော်လည်း ယနေ့အချိန်ထိ ပြည်တွင်း၊ ပြည်ပရှိ ပြည်သူလူထုနှင့် တကွ ခေါင်းဆောင်များသည် မလျော့သော ဇွဲလုံလဝီရိယများ၊ ခွန်အားသစ်များဖြင့် ယုံကြည်ရာ ဦးတည်ချက်သို့ ရှေ့ဆက်ချီတက် လျှောက်လှမ်းနေကြဆဲဖြစ်ပါသည်။ မိမိတို့ အားလုံး ထပ်တူမျှော်လင့်တောင့်တနေသော အနာဂတ် ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီ နိုင်ငံတော်ကြီးကို မဝေးသော အချိန်ကာလတွင် စည်းလုံးမှုကို အခြေခံကာ ညီညွတ်မှုအားဖြင့် တည်ဆောက် နိုင်မည်ကို ယုံကြည်ပါကြောင်းလည်း ဖော်ပြလိုပါသည်။ ၃။ အာဏာရှင်ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက်တွင် အသက်သွေးချွေးပေးဆပ်ကာ တရားမျှတမှု အတွက် ပါဝင်တော်လှန်ခုခံခဲ့ကြသည့် သူရဲကောင်းများအားလုံးနှင့်တကွ လက်ရှိနွေဦး တော်လှန်ရေးတွင်လည်း အဖက်ဖက်မှ ပူးပေါင်းပါဝင်တိုက်ပွဲဝင်ခဲ့ကြသည့် သူရဲကောင်းများ အားလုံးကို လေးစားဂုဏ်ပြုပါကြောင်း ဖော်ပြလိုပါသည်။ ၄။ ပြည်သူ့ခေါင်းဆောင်၏ အမှန်တရားကို လေးစားယုံကြည်မြတ်နိုးသည့် စိတ်ဓာတ် နှင့်အတူ သမိုင်းတလျှောက်တွင် နိုင်ငံတော်နှင့်ပြည်သူလူထုအတွက် ရှေ့မှ မားမားမတ်မတ် ရပ်တည်လျက် ဒီမိုကရေစီအုတ်မြစ် ခိုင်မာရေးကို ရဲရဲဝံ့ဝံ့ ကြိုးစားအားထုတ်ခဲ့သည့် သမိုင်း လုပ်ရပ်များနှင့် လက်ရှိအချိန်တွင် အာဏာရှင် လူတစ်စု၏ မတရားဖမ်းဆီးချုပ်နှောင်ခြင်းကို ခံထားရသော်လည်း ကြောက်ရွံခြင်းမရှိ ကိုယ်ကျိုးမတွက်ဘဲ ဒီမိုကရေစီအောင်ပန်း အမြဲ ဆင်မြန်းနိုင်စေရန် ပြည်သူ၏ဆန္ဒနှင့် တသားတည်းဖြစ်အောင် ရပ်တည်ဆောင်ရွက်ပေးနေ သော လုပ်ဆောင်ချက်များအား ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားပြုကော်မတီ အနေဖြင့် အစဥ်အမြဲ တန်ဖိုးထားလေးစားပါကြောင်းနှင့် ဂုဏ်ယူပါကြောင်း ဖော်ပြလိုပါသည်။ ခေါင်းဆောင်၏ ယနေ့ကျရောက်သော (၇၇) နှစ်မြောက် မွေးနေ့မှသည် နောင်နှစ်များစွာတိုင် ကိုယ်စိတ်နှစ်ဖြာ ကျန်းမာရွှင်လန်းကာ ပြည်သူများနှင့်အတူ ပျော်ရွှင်စွာ ဘဝခရီးလမ်း လျှောက်လှမ်းနိုင်ပါစေကြောင်း ဆုမွန်ကောင်းတောင်းလျက် ဤသဝဏ်လွှာအား ပေးပို့အပ် ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
2022-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2022-06-19
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Description: "Relatives of Myanmar’s ousted leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday filed a complaint before a UN watchdog against her detention following a military coup last year, their lawyers said. Since a coup ousted her government in February 2021, plunging Myanmar into upheaval, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been in military custody and faces a raft of charges that could jail her for more than 150 years. Describing the situation as a “judicial kidnapping”, human rights lawyers Francois Zimeray and Jessica Finelle said they had filed a complaint on behalf of her relatives with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. “Her arrest was illegal, her detention is devoid of any legal basis, and her different trials violate the basic rules governing any legal procedure,” reads the complaint, seen by AFP. “This is a kidnapping disguised as a trial, she is held incommunicado in defiance of all justice and resists with strength an unacceptable psychological torture,” it said. In a statement, the lawyers added that “this is a tragic regression for Myanmar. Through the figure of Aung San Suu Kyi, the entire Burmese people is silenced, and its democratic aspirations are crushed.” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, has been sentenced to five years in jail for corruption, and six years for incitement against the military, breaching COVID-19 rules and breaking a telecommunications law. She faces a raft of other trials, including for allegedly violating the official secrets act, several counts of corruption and electoral fraud. Branding them “farcical charges”, the lawyers said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi faces the prospect of more than 100 more years on 17 different charges. Group made Assange finding The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s five independent experts investigate cases of deprivation of liberty imposed arbitrarily or inconsistently with international standards. They made headlines in 2016 by finding that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was being arbitrarily detained as he sought to avoid extradition from Britain to the United States by sheltering in the Ecuadoran embassy in London. The Working Group has already evaluated cases involving Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who under a previous junta regime spent long spells under house arrest in her family’s lakeside mansion in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. Both in 1991 and 2001, the experts determined she was being arbitrarily detained. Today, she is confined in an undisclosed location in the capital Naypyitaw, with her links to the outside world limited to brief pre-trial meetings with lawyers. “Can anyone conceive what this detention entails for a [nearly] 77-years-old woman, who has already spent 15 years of her life deprived of liberty?” Zimeray and Finelle asked. Speaking with AFP, Zimeray said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s current case borders on “enforced disappearance”. “We don’t know where she is. She only reappears at her trials. It is a judicial kidnapping,” he said. He voiced hope the Working Group, whose decisions are not binding but carry reputational weight, would “speak out firmly”. Since the coup that ousted civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, more than 1,800 people have died in a brutal military crackdown on dissent, according to a monitoring group..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (Paris) via "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-05-26
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-26
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Description: "Six years ago, army chiefs and senior members of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) initiated a mission to smear National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD figures. Their mission began after the NLD won a landslide victory in the 2015 general election. Now, following last year’s coup, the mission continues. Ahead of the 2015 poll, military and USDP leaders deliberately inflamed religious and racial sentiments to prevent an outright NLD victory in the election. Often, the NLD was portrayed as a pro-Muslim party whose rise to power would mean the fall of Buddhism in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Nationalist groups like the Association for Protection of Race and Religion, better known by its Burmese acronym Ma Ba Tha, engaged in campaigns to slander the NLD, amid a growing wave of Buddhist nationalism in the country. Their actions did have some impact on the NLD, but not to the extent of undermining public trust in Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, or in reducing the public’s love, respect and support for the woman who has dedicated her life to the cause of democracy. People who wanted change voted for her and the NLD in the 2015 election. After the poll, military and USDP leaders reviewed the USDP’s defeat. They realised that people support the NLD because of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s reputation and prestige. They have since systematically attempted to defame Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders. They believe that if they can damage the name of a politician, public trust in him or her will decline. Army officers from the Office of Military Security Affairs and police from Special Branch were assigned with keeping an eye on cabinet ministers and NLD lawmakers. The Office of Military Security Affairs was also tasked with spreading doctored narratives and fake news, mixed with real facts about NLD ministers and lawmakers, on social media. In cooperation with so-called Myanmar experts who had returned from foreign countries to Myanmar, military leaders spread misinformation about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD leaders among Myanmar people living overseas. Moreover, media agencies were established for that purpose. Silent Talk media, which is headed by former military intelligence officer Ye Moe Oo, was sponsored by a pro-military businessman. Admiral Moe Aung funded The Fifth Wave media outlet and the Thayninga Institute of Strategic Studies, a think-tank formed by ex-military officers, according to those who have worked for those media outlets. Funded by some USDP leaders, People Media and Bullet Journal, led by former military officer U Hla Swe, are well-known media outlets which primarily featured news reports and opinion pieces deemed to be defamatory to NLD leaders and lawmakers. Some reports were truthful, but some were falsified. Those media outlets sponsored by the military and the USDP kept a low-profile under the NLD government. But since the coup, they are out in the open and asking questions in support of the military regime at junta press conferences. Through those media outlets and Facebook, which is virtually synonymous with the internet in Myanmar, the military and the USDP spread false narratives that the peace process and the economy barely achieved progress under the NLD government. The Office of Military Security Affairs and Special Branch searched for any information about NLD members that could do damage to the party’s reputation. They then forwarded the information to military-linked media which turned them into stories mixed with misinformation. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD leaders kept their noses clean during their tenure. Former President U Htin Kyaw handed an envelope enclosing the list of his assets to the Union Parliament when he assumed office, and he did not take it back when he stepped down so that his wealth before and after his presidency could be checked. However, USDP president U Thein Sein took back his envelope when he left office. When making official foreign trips, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint never used money from state funds for themselves, and returned any surplus funds along with receipts and financial statements. Under the NLD government, businessmen who usually accompanied senior government figures on visits to foreign countries under the previous government were not allowed to join government delegations. Government officials are entitled to a quota of fuel provided monthly from state funds. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her government leaders always returned their monthly leftovers. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi exercised zero tolerance for corruption and extramarital affairs among her government ministers. Lawmakers who had affairs or were involved in sex scandals were not selected as candidates for the 2020 general election. The NLD government also reformed the Anti-Corruption Commission and amended the Anti-Corruption Law to make it tougher on bribery and corruption. As a result, departments long known to be corrupt reported a significant increase in revenue. The revenue from municipal works, which is a major source of income for region and state governments, increased almost three times compared to the revenue under U Thein Sein’s government. That revenue benefitted the country’s infrastructure. In the 2020 general election, the NLD repeated its victory of 2015. But the military seized power on the pretext that the election was marred by fraud. It then made further attempts to destroy Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s reputation. Her power is not in weapons and her wealth is not about money. The strength of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi lies in the public support and esteem for her. The military accused her of corruption and imprisoned her so as to defame her. It also charged NLD party and government leaders under the Anti-Corruption Law and put them behind bars. In one of the corruption cases brought against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, she was accused of accepting gold and US dollars from former Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein. She was sentenced to prison, even though there was no evidence. U Phyo Min Thein, who is too sick to stay in jail, was forced to testify against her. His wife reportedly took poison as she did not want to make a false statement. But she was saved by the military regime. Army chiefs who have accused Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of corruption are some of the wealthiest people in Myanmar. Junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s son and daughter are now on the list of the richest people in Myanmar following their father’s coup. Offspring of other military leaders as well as USDP leaders are also very wealthy. But their official salaries are chicken feed compared to the value of the cheapest luxury car in their fleet of vehicles. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has only one house which she inherited from her parents. President U Win Myint does not even own a house. But military and USDP leaders have luxury homes in Yangon, Naypyitaw and Pyin Oo Lwin, and fleets of luxury cars. Those who have amassed material wealth through dishonest means have accused and imprisoned Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is rich only in integrity. They attempted to defame Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and undermine public trust her. But the Myanmar people do not believe their lies..."
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Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-05-17
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-17
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Description: "“There is no justice and no credibility when a so-called ‘trial’ takes place in secret, with no defense counsel, and a guilty verdict is declared in five minutes,” said the National Unity Government Union Minister of Justice U Thein Oo, commenting on the latest travesty perpetrated by the junta on State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. “This propaganda stunt reveals two things about this murderous junta, once again. First, that they are shameless about the farce of a legal system they have inflicted on the people of Myanmar. Second, that they are still terrified of the power of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi still has a symbol of courage in defense of democracy.” The junta pretended that they had evidence that the nation’s most respected leader had accepted $600,000 in bars of gold as bribes. Knowing her entire life has been devoted to fighting for the freedom of the people of Myanmar, including decades in prison and under house arrest, such a claim is clearly ridiculous. She dismissed it as, “All Absurd.” This week’s trial is only the latest in a series of fake trials the junta intends to subject the Myanmar leader to. Minister U Thein Oo declared that this type of cruel injustice will end with the restoration of democracy and the establishment of a fair and equitable justice system in a new Myanmar. The Ministry of Justice and the National Unity Government have already begun preparations to create a ‘Interim justice’ system in those territories freed from the junta’s control..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Justice - NUG
2022-05-02
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-02
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Description: "A Myanmar regime’s court in Naypyitaw did not follow legal procedures when passing a “five-year” jail sentence to the country’s ousted democratic leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for a corruption case last week, legal sources said. Detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said she was unhappy with the verdict after a junta court sentenced her to five years in prison based on the account of her former colleague on April 27. Her remark upset Mandalay Region High Court judge U Myint San, who delivered the verdict, according to court sources. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been on trial on a corruption charge for accepting bribes from her Yangon Region chief minister U Phyo Min Thein, who testified in October last year that he gave her seven viss (around 11.4kg) of gold and US$600,000 in 2017 and 2018. At the trial last week, U Myint San quickly read out the verdict against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and left the court immediately, according to those present. The verdict was due on April 26 but was postponed until the next day. He might have been waiting for an instruction from the regime. At the hearing on the morning of April 26, the judge said the verdict would be delivered that afternoon but then it was put off until the next day. In other cases verdicts have been postponed. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team appealed to the Supreme Court in early March against the prosecution. The Supreme Court judges ignored the appeal even though the special Naypyitaw court announced that the verdict was due on April 26. According to judicial procedures, if the Supreme Court takes over the case, the special court in Naypyitaw cannot pass a verdict, legal sources said. Only after the Naypyitaw court delivered the verdict on April 27, the Supreme Court said it would hear the appeal on May 4. The verdict will be quashed if the Supreme Court decides that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should not be prosecuted. Observers say the Supreme Court wants to avoid handling Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s case. But her legal team will appeal against the verdict which was based only on the testimony of U Phyo Min Thein without any evidence, according to court sources. He is the only National League for Democracy chief minister not to be jailed since the 2021 coup, apart from the Chin State chief minister, who managed to flee to India. The regime has imposed a gagging order on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers. She faces sentences of more than 100 years from 17 charges filed by the regime. She has so far been given 11 years in prison..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-05-02
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "နိုင်ငံတော်၏ အတိုင်ပင်ခံပုဂ္ဂိုလ် ဒေါ်အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည်အပေါ် စစ်ကောင်စီက မဟုတ်မမှန် တရားစွဲဆိုမှုတွင် စွပ်စွဲခံရသူဖက်မှ ခုခံချေပခွင့်လည်းမရှိ၊ အများပြည်သူရှေ့မှောက်တွင် ပွင့်လင်းမြင်သာစွာ စီရင်ခြင်းလည်း မရှိ၊ အပြစ်ရှိသည်ဟု (၅) မိနစ်အတွင်း ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက် ချမှတ်သော “ဟန်ပြ” တရားခွင်သည် အများပြည်သူ ယုံကြည်လက်ခံနိုင်မှုကိုသော်လည်းကောင်း တရားမျှတမှုကိုသော်လည်းကောင်း ဆောင်ကြဉ်း နိုင်သည်မဟုတ်ပါ။ ယခုကဲ့သို့ ဝါဒဖြန့် “ဟန်ပြ” တရားခွင်သည် အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ သဘောထား (၂) ချက်ကို ပိုမို ပေါ်လွင်စေသည်။ ပထမတစ်ချက် ၎င်းတို့အနေဖြင့် မြန်မာပြည်သူများအပေါ် မလျော်ကန်စွာ သက်ရောက်စေသည့် တရားစီရင်ရေး အတုအယောင်ကို အရှက်သိက္ခာကင်းမဲ့စွာ အသုံးချရန် ဝန်မလေးခြင်းနှင့် ဒုတိယတစ်ချက်အနေဖြင့် ဒီမိုကရေစီကို ကာကွယ်စောင့်ရှောက်သူ ဒေါ်အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည်၏ ပုံရိပ်ကို ကြောက်ရွံ့နေသေးခြင်း တို့ မှာ သိသာထင်ရှားသည်။ အများပြည်သူ ယုံကြည်လေးစားရသူ နိုင်ငံတော်၏ အတိုင်ပင်ခံပုဂ္ဂိုလ် ဒေါ်အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည်သည် ဒေါ်လာ (၆) သိန်းတန်ဖိုးရှိ ရွှေချောင်းများကို လာဘ်ပေးလာဘ်ယူ ပြုမူခဲ့သည့် သက်သေများရှိသည်ဟု စစ်ကောင်စီက တရားခွင်တွင် မဟုတ်မမှန် လိမ်လည် ပြောကြားခဲ့သည်။ နေအိမ်အကျယ်ချုပ်နှင့် ထောင်သွင်း အကျဉ်းချခံရခြင်းများဖြင့် သူမဘဝတစ်လျောက် မြန်မာပြည်သူလူထု လွတ်လပ်ရန် တစ်စိုက်မက်မက် ကြိုးစားခဲ့သော ဒေါ်အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည်အား ယခုကဲ့သို့ စွပ်စွဲချက်များသည် အခြေအမြစ်မရှိကြောင်း သိသာစေပါသည်။ ဒေါ်အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည် ကိုယ်တိုင်ကလည်း ၎င်းစွပ်စွဲချက်ကို အခြေအမြစ်မရှိကြောင်း ပြောဆိုပယ်ချခဲ့သည်။ ယခုအပတ်အတွင်း ချမှတ်သော အတုအယောင် တရားခွင်သည် စစ်ကောင်စီအနေဖြင့် လူထုခေါင်းဆောင်အပေါ် စီရင်နေသော မလျော်ကန်သည့် တရားခွင်များအနက်မှ လက်တလော နောက်ဆုံး တရားခွင်တစ်ခုပင် ဖြစ်သည်။ အသစ်ပြန်လည်တည်ဆောက်မည့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်ကြီးတွင် ဒီမိုကရေစီစနစ် ပြန်လည် ဆောင်ကြဉ်း၍ လွတ်လပ်ပြီးတရားမျှတသော တရားစီရင်ရေးစနစ်ကို ဖော်ဆောင်ပြီး ယခုကဲ့သို့ ယုတ်မာရက်စက်သော မတရားမှုများကို အဆုံးသတ်မည် ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီလက်အောက်မှ အုပ်ချုပ်မှုကင်းလွတ်နေသည့် စိုးမိုးနယ်မြေများတွင် ကြားကာလ တရားစီရင်ရေးစနစ်ကို အမျိုးသား ညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ၊ တရားရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာနက စတင် အကောင်အထည်ဖော် ဆောင်ရွက်နေပြီ ဖြစ်ပါသည်။..... အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ..... တရားရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာန..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Justice - NUG
2022-05-02
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-02
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Description: "France condemns in the strongest possible terms the prison sentence handed down today against State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi at the end of arbitrary court proceedings. This decision represents a new attempt by the military junta to undermine the legitimacy of democratically elected leaders, in total contradiction with the expressed will of the Burmese people. It is another sign of the military’s contempt for the basic principles of the rule of law since the coup d’état on February 1, 2021. As France and its EU partners have consistently emphasized, this crisis can be resolved only through a political dialogue that includes all stakeholders, and first and foremost, the democratic opposition forces. France reiterates its call for the immediate, unconditional release of all arbitrarily detained prisoners and an end to the acts of violence carried out by Burmese security forces..."
Source/publisher: French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2022-04-27
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-28
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Description: "On 27 April, a court set up by the Myanmar State Administrative Council in Naypyitaw sentenced detained State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to an additional 5 years’ imprisonment. The EU’s position, as expressed on 6 December 2021 and 11 January 2022 remains that the trial was politically motivated. It represents another step towards the dismantling of the rule of law and a further blatant violation of human rights in Myanmar and yet another major setback for democracy in Myanmar since the military coup on 1 February 2021. These proceedings are a clear attempt to exclude democratically elected leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy, from the inclusive dialogue process called for by ASEAN’s Five Point Consensus. We reiterate our urgent call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners as well as all those arbitrarily detained since the coup..."
Source/publisher: European External Action Service
2022-04-27
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-28
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Sub-title: Military, which seized power in February 2021, seeks to throw out case alleging it committed genocide
Description: "Myanmar’s military junta has appeared in place of the detained Aung San Suu Kyi at the UN’s top court, where it sought to throw out a case alleging it committed genocide against the country’s Rohingya minority. The decision to allow the junta to represent the country in court, after it seized power in a coup last year, was strongly criticised by advocacy groups and a former UN special rapporteur, who warned it risked delaying justice. The claim that Myanmar’s military carried out genocide was brought to the international court of justice (ICJ) by the Gambia after a brutal 2017 military crackdown that forced an estimated 700,000 Rohingya to flee over the border to neighbouring Bangladesh. UN investigators have since alleged the military’s operations were carried out with “genocidal intent”. Previously, Aung San Suu Kyi travelled to the court to defend Myanmar against claims the military carried out mass murder, rape and destruction of Rohingya Muslim communities. She is now being held in detention at the behest of the military, which seized power in February 2021 and charged her with a raft of alleged offences. Aung San Suu Kyi was replaced in court by the junta’s minister of international cooperation, Ko Ko Hlaing, and its attorney general, Thida Oo. Both are subject to US sanctions prompted by the military’s use of brutal violence to repress opposition to the coup. The national unity government (NUG), formed by elected lawmakers, ethnic minority representatives and activists, had said it intended to represent Myanmar at the ICJ. It said it had withdrawn preliminary objections – unlike the junta, whose representatives argued on Monday the Gambia did not have the legal right to file the case. Yanghee Lee, a former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, called the hearings a disgrace. “The court should instead recognise the NUG’s authority, formally dismiss the objections and move swiftly to dealing with the actual substance of the case, the atrocities against the Rohingya people.” The junta’s lawyers outlined several objections, including claims that the Gambia was acting as a “proxy” for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and therefore lacked standing because the ICJ only rules on disputes between states. Ko Ko Hlaing told the court that the junta, which he referred to as the government of Myanmar, was determined to solve the problems in Rakhine state “through peaceful means of negotiation and reconciliation”. Rights groups point out that the military is in the midst of a deadly campaign of violence against the public. Over the past year alone, in the aftermath of the coup, its has torched villages, massacred civilians and carried out airstrikes across the country to silence opposition. Tun Khin, the president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, said the military had totally failed to comply a previous order issued by the court, which said Myanmar must prevent genocidal violence against Rohingya and preserve any evidence of past crimes. “The Rohingya in Myanmar today are subjected to daily harassment and intimidation by authorities, while there are also state-enforced restrictions on their movement, as well as their access to healthcare, education and livelihoods,” Tun Khin said. The junta was also blocking humanitarian assistance, leaving many Rohingya on the brink of starvation, he added. A representative of the Rohingya Student Network, who spoke from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, told the Guardian the ICJ case represented not only the prospect of justice for Rohingya people but also the “hope to bring a federal democracy in Myanmar for all those who are fighting [for an end to military rule] in Myanmar right now”. The military’s seizure of power has prompted a shift in attitudes towards minorities. Previously there was little solidarity with Rohingya, but since the coup some protesters have apologised for not standing by Rohingya or believing their claims of persecution. “They joined our fight from 1 February,” said the Rohingya activist, who asked not to be named due to security concerns, referring to the date of last year’s coup. “They just joined our fight, that we [have been] fighting for decades.” Akila Radhakrishnan, the president of the Global Justice Centre, said she did not believe the junta’s appearance before the court would lend legitimacy to the military. It was likely to simply reflect a continuation of the status quo in court procedures, she said. Radhakrishnan added: “There is such a strong link between impunity and the coup occurring, and the fact that the military has very rarely faced any direct consequences, that I think there is import to the fact that they are learning that they will be hauled into court – and this time around, unlike 2019, they can’t hide behind Aung San Suu Kyi and the civilian government...”
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Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
2022-02-21
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-21
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Description: "A court in Myanmar has sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to four more years in prison, in the latest of a series of trials. She was convicted for the illegal possession and import of walkie-talkies and breaking Covid-19 rules. Ms Suu Kyi was first convicted in December, and given a reduced jail sentence of two years. She has been detained since a military coup last February and faces about a dozen charges, all of which she denies. Her trials have been widely condemned as unfair. The charges in the latest case stem from when soldiers searched her house on the day of the coup by forces led by army chief General Min Aung Hlaing. The devices they say they discovered are presumed to have been used by her security guards, resulting in a conviction widely viewed as no more than a tactic to justify detaining her. Monday's trial in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, was closed to the media and Ms Suu Kyi's lawyers have been barred from communicating with the media and public. Last month the Nobel laureate was found guilty of incitement of dissent and breaking Covid-19 rules, in what was condemned as a "sham trial" by UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet. BACKGROUND: The general who returned Myanmar to military rule AS IT HAPPENED: Myanmar coup: What happened and why? PROFILE: Democracy icon who fell from grace In response to Monday's sentencing, Human Rights Watch called the legal proceedings a "courtroom circus of secret proceedings on bogus charges... so that (Aung San Suu Kyi) will remain in prison indefinitely". The statement by the group's deputy Asia director Phil Robertson also accused the military of securing convictions "in a kangaroo court on the flimsiest, politically motivated charges", and said it was "running roughshod over the human rights of everyone, ranging from Suu Kyi... to the Civil Disobedience Movements activists on the street". The military's seizure of power in Myanmar (also called Burma) last February came months after Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won November 2020 general elections by a landslide. The military alleged voter fraud in the victory, however independent election observers have said the elections were largely free and fair. The coup triggered widespread demonstrations and Myanmar's military has cracked down on pro-democracy protesters, activists and journalists. Ms Suu Kyi is one of more than 10,600 people to have been arrested by the junta since February, with at least 1,303 others killed in the demonstrations, according to the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The latest sentence brings her total prison term so far to six years, but were she convicted of all the charges she faces, she could spend the rest of her life in detention. The 76-year-old, who has not been seen in public since her house arrest, still faces several more serious charges - of corruption, election fraud and breaking the official secrets act. Whether she actually spends any time in jail depends on what the military wants to do with its most famous prisoner, the BBC's Jonathan Head says. The ruling junta still faces widespread opposition; parts of the country are now engulfed in armed conflict, and the economy is near collapse. Neighbouring countries are seeking a negotiated end to the conflict. So far they have made little progress, but if they do, our correspondent says it is likely such talks would at some point have to involve Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains very popular. An icon who fell from grace Aung San Suu Kyi spent nearly 15 years in detention at the hands of the military between 1989 and 2010, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work to bring democracy to Myanmar. Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in 2015, but she was prevented from becoming president herself by rules excluding those with foreign national children from holding that office. She was widely regarded as the de facto ruler of the country. However her reputation abroad was severely damaged by the way she handled the Rohingya crisis, which started in 2017. EXPLAINED:What you need to know about the Rohingya crisis In 2019 Ms Suu Kyi appeared at the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) to defend her country against accusations of genocide..."
Source/publisher: "BBC News" (London)
2022-01-10
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-10
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Description: "A special court set up by the Myanmar junta in Naypyitaw sentenced detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to an additional four years’ imprisonment on Monday in three cases against her, including alleged illegal possession of walkie-talkies and breaching COVID-19 restrictions. Sources close to the court told The Irrawaddy that the sentences comprised two years’ imprisonment for the illegal import of walkie-talkies under the Export Import Law; one year for the possession of these devices under the Telecommunications Law; and two years for the COVID-19 charge under the Natural Disaster Management Law. The first two sentences are to be served concurrently. The verdicts in the cases were announced after two hearing postponements last month. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, who has been detained since the day of the Feb. 1 coup, has now been given a total of six years in prison by the junta. The court handed her a four-year sentence on Dec. 10 on charges of sedition and breaching COVID-19 restrictions. On the same day, the junta leader commuted the prison sentence to two years. She is facing another seven charges including alleged corruption and breaching the Official Secrets Act. She faces a potential combined prison term of over 100 years on all of the charges, which are widely viewed as trumped-up, politically motivated and an attempt by the junta to exclude her from Myanmar politics. Junta forces raided Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s residence in Naypyitaw in the early morning hours of Feb. 1 ahead of the coup, without a search warrant, and claimed to have found illegally imported walkie-talkies, which they said were used by her security forces. Five police officers testified as prosecution witnesses in the two cases. But their testimony as to where and from whom they seized the walkie-talkies differed, sources close to the court said. Today’s verdict on the breach of COVID-19 regulations is based on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s door-to-door visits to party members ahead of the 2020 elections. Since last month’s verdicts, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has appeared in court wearing a prison uniform: a white top and brown longyi. The junta has barred all five of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers from speaking to the media since October, so details of the court hearings as well as her whereabouts are unknown to the public..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-01-10
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-10
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Description: "The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Abdou Abarry (Niger): The members of the Security Council expressed deep concern at the sentencing of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint and others. Recalling their previous statements, they reiterated their calls for the release of all those who have been arbitrarily detained since 1 February 2021. The members of the Security Council once again stressed their continued support for the democratic transition in Myanmar and underlined the need to uphold democratic institutions and processes, refrain from violence, pursue constructive dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar, fully respect human rights and fundamental freedoms and uphold the rule of law. They reiterated their strong commitment to the sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity and unity of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: United Nations ( New York )
2021-12-08
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-09
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Description: "In response to media queries, the MFA Spokesperson said: Singapore remains deeply concerned about recent developments in Myanmar and disappointed by the lack of tangible progress in the implementation of the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus. We reiterate our call for the cessation of violence, constructive dialogue among all parties, and urge the Myanmar military authorities to cooperate with the ASEAN Chair’s Special Envoy on Myanmar to swiftly and fully implement the Five-Point Consensus, including by facilitating the Special Envoy’s visit to Myanmar to meet with all parties concerned. Singapore also calls for the release of all political detainees including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Win Myint and foreign detainees, and for the Myanmar military authorities to avoid actions that would be detrimental to eventual national reconciliation and restoration of peace and stability in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore
2021-12-07
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-08
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Description: "December 6, 2021 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement on the convictions in the trial of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint in Myanmar: “Canada condemns the convictions of Myanmar’s detained, democratically elected civilian leadership, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. Today’s convictions follow trials that met no standard of impartiality and are emblematic of the regime’s blatant disregard for human rights and judicial independence. “Judicial independence is fundamental to the rule of law and essential for any democratic and accountable government. “Canada is deeply concerned over recent events in Myanmar, including the regime’s use of lethal force against unarmed and peaceful protestors and civilians, as well as its ongoing arrests and detentions of protestors, politicians, civilians, civil society activists, journalists and pro-democracy leaders. Over the past few days, these events have led to several deaths, injuries and detentions by military forces. “Canada calls for the release of all those arbitrarily detained, including political prisoners, as well as the immediate cessation of violence. Canada also calls for the utmost restraint to be exercised by all parties. “Canada reiterates its full support for the ongoing efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ASEAN Chair’s Special Envoy, in close cooperation with the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General.”..."
Source/publisher: Government of Canada
2021-12-06
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-07
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Sub-title: First Verdict in Slew of Fabricated Charges
Description: "Update: On December 6, the junta announced it was reducing the sentences of Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint from four to two years. It also announced they would be “detained in the current location for the remaining two years of imprisonment.” (Bangkok) – Myanmar’s junta should immediately quash the verdict against Aung San Suu Kyi, who on December 6, 2021, was found guilty of inciting public unrest and breaching Covid-19 restrictions and sentenced to four years in prison, Human Rights Watch said today. The 76-year-old de facto leader of Myanmar prior to the February military coup faces an additional 10 politically motivated charges, including for possessing unlicensed walkie-talkies, corruption, and election fraud, carrying a total potential sentence of more than 100 years in prison. Ousted President Win Myint was also sentenced to four years. The military arrested Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the then-ruling National League for Democracy party, along with other senior officials in the capital, Naypyidaw, on February 1, as it nullified the results of the November 2020 democratic elections and installed a junta under a manufactured “state of emergency.” She did not appear in person in court until May 24. Her trial began on June 14. The special court in Naypyidaw remained closed to all journalists and observers, and her legal team has been barred from speaking on the case. “Aung San Suu Kyi’s guilty verdict has been guaranteed since Myanmar’s military detained her on February 1, and more baseless convictions and sentences can be expected to be piled on in the future,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The junta is using this sham court proceeding to wipe out all opposition to military dictatorship. Yet since the coup and Suu Kyi’s arrest, millions have taken to the streets to protest for freedom and democracy.” Myanmar’s security forces have killed over 1,200 people since the coup, arrested more than 7,500, and tortured and raped detainees. The junta’s widespread and systematic abuses amount to the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance, torture, rape and other sexual violence, severe deprivation of liberty, and other inhumane acts causing great suffering. The junta has detained thousands of protesters, activists, journalists, and others on charges that are similarly unjust as those against Aung San Suu Kyi, Human Rights Watch said. The verdict against her should remind foreign governments of the need to adopt urgent measures to press for the release of everyone arbitrarily detained and to bring the junta’s leadership to justice. “The junta should unconditionally release Aung San Suu Kyi and all others facing politically motivated charges,” Adams said. “The military’s initial disappearance of Suu Kyi, the most well-known person in the country, speaks to the brutality and injustice that detainees with little or no profile are enduring.”..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
2021-12-06
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-07
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Description: "The Burmese military regime’s unjust conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi and the repression of other democratically elected officials are yet further affronts to democracy and justice in Burma.  The regime’s continued disregard for the rule of law and its widespread use of violence against the Burmese people underscore the urgency of restoring Burma’s path to democracy.  We urge the regime to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all those unjustly detained, including other democratically elected officials. We reiterate our call for the regime to engage in constructive dialogue with all parties to seek a peaceful resolution in the interest of the people, as agreed to in the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus. We join the people of Burma in their aspirations for freedom and democracy and call on the regime to end the use of violence, respect the will of the people, and restore Burma’s democratic transition..."
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Source/publisher: United States Department of State
2021-12-06
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-07
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Sub-title: The patron of Myanmar’s ousted ruling party was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sedition late last month
Description: "The legal defence team for Myanmar’s detained civilian leaders plans to call Win Htein, a senior figure from the ousted ruling party who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sedition late last month, as a witness, court sources told Myanmar Now. Lawyers for ousted State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint came up with the plan after deciding not to call other witnesses due to fears that they could be targeted by the country’s coup regime for testifying in favour of the deposed leaders, the sources said. Suu Kyi faces a total of 11 charges, including incitement, corruption, and violations of the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, that could land her in prison for decades if convicted. Win Myint is standing trial for incitement and breaching health restrictions during last year’s election campaign. Until now, their lawyers have had to base their cases solely on the testimony of the two defendants. However, they have recently submitted a request to call Win Htein, who is a patron of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), to the stand as a witness, the sources said. Win Htein was given the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on October 29 after being found guilty of sedition under Section 124a of the Penal Code. He was due to be transferred from the Naypyitaw Detention Centre to Mandalay’s Obo Prison after his sentence was handed down, but the transfer has reportedly been delayed in case he has to return to court to testify on behalf of Suu Kyi and Win Myint. Legally, there is no reason that someone who has already been convicted can’t act as a witness in other lawsuits, according to Thein Oo, the justice minister of the shadow National Unity Government (NUG). “The law does not stipulate that someone who has been convicted cannot testify as a witness. Defence lawyers have the right to call anyone who can prove the innocence of the accused,” he said. The junta’s anti-corruption commission has accused Suu Kyi of taking bribes while she was in office. Last month, the former Yangon chief minister under her ousted government, Phyo Min Thein, testified in court that he paid her $600,000 in cash and gave her 11.4kg of gold in exchange for protection and support for his businesses. Thein Oo told Myanmar Now that as a patron of the NLD, Win Htein had influence over the party’s choice of chief ministers and monitored their performance in office. This knowledge would make him a suitable witness to defend Suu Kyi’s innocence, he said. “If U Win Htein is allowed to testify [in the corruption case], we can see how much of Phyo Min Thein’s testimony is actually accurate,” the NUG justice minister said. The court is also expected to hand down verdicts in the incitement cases against Suu Kyi and Win Myint later this month. It was still unclear at the time of reporting if Win Htein would also be testifying in these cases. A spokesperson for the junta could not be reached for comment. Win Htein was among the few top NLD leaders who was not detained in the early hours of February 1 as the military toppled Myanmar’s elected government. Later the same morning he used his freedom to excoriate the military and urged the public to resist the coup during interviews with journalists. Min Aung Hlaing acted “without thinking of what is right and wrong,” he told reporters, adding: “I feel pity for him.” He was arrested at his home in Yangon three days later. According to his lawyer Myint Thwin, Win Htein said he made the comments on the day of the coup because, as a leader of the ruling party, he felt responsible for communicating the unfolding situation to the country..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2021-11-07
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Ye Htet will still be allowed to have brief notes with him when he takes the stand, Suu Kyi’s lawyer said
Description: "The plaintiff in detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s corruption case has been banned from reading statements while testifying against her in court, the judge said during a hearing on Friday. The order came after Suu Kyi’s legal team submitted a complaint about the pre-written testimony from Ye Htut, an officer from the junta’s Anti-Corruption Commission who is pressing charges against the leader. Judge Myint San, who is presiding over the case at a special court in the Naypyitaw Council compound, approved the request. “The witness can longer give statements by reading out pre-written documents,” a member of Suu Kyi’s legal team told Myanmar Now. “They will still be allowed to have notes containing numbers and dates.” Suu Kyi is accused among other things of building a house on land owned by the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, the charity she founded in the name of her mother. If found guilty, Suu Kyi could be sentenced to 14 years prison under Section 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law. She is also accused under the same law of taking gold and cash as bribes from Phyo Min Thein, the former chief minister of Yangon Region. She was in good health during Friday’s hearing, her lawyers said. The leader faces a total of 11 charges that could see her handed a decades-long sentence..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2021-10-25
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar’s military regime has imposed yet another gagging order on a lawyer representing detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, before her latest appearance in court on Tuesday. U Kyi Win is the fifth member of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team to be barred from speaking to the media, foreign diplomats and international organizations. The regime imposed the gagging order after U Khin Maung Zaw, the head lawyer representing Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, gave details of President U Win Myint’s testimony during a court hearing on October 12, when the President said that the Myanmar military threatened to force him to resign during the February 1 coup. Lawyers U Khin Maung Zaw, U Thae Maung Maung and Daw Min Min Soe were also recently barred from speaking to the media, foreign diplomats and international organizations under Article 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Another one of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers, Daw San Mar Lar Nyunt, was barred in August from speaking about the trials. The junta has brought 11 charges against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and two against U Win Myint. The gagging order could prevent first-hand accounts of Suu Kyi’s weekly hearings from reaching the public, said lawyers. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team has been the only source of information on the trials and on the well-being of the State Counselor and President U Win Myint..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2021-10-25
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar's ruling military has not blocked a special Southeast Asian envoy from visiting the country but will not allow him to meet detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, because she is charged with crimes, the junta's spokesman said. A delay in the United Nations approving the military government's U.N. ambassador nomination was politically motivated, spokesman Zaw Min Tun added, saying the U.N. and other countries and organisations "should avoid double standards when they are engaging in international affairs". The spokesman's remarks, issued by the military in a summary dated Wednesday, come as international pressure builds on the junta to implement a five-point peace plan its top general Min Aung Hlaing agreed to in April with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Myanmar has been in political and economic paralysis since the military's Feb. 1 coup, which triggered an outpouring of anger and protest that has not abated, with some civilians forming militias to take on the powerful army. The junta's inaction on the ASEAN plan was "tantamount to backtracking" and some member countries were "deep in discussions" about excluding Min Aung Hlaing from a summit this month, Erywan Yusof, the bloc's special envoy, said last week. Erywan earlier this week said he was in consultations with parties in Myanmar, does not take sides or political positions and looks forward to a visit. The junta spokesman also insisted Myanmar's judicial system was fair and independent would handle Aung San Suu Kyi's case accordingly, adding the chief justice was appointed by the previous government..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-10-14
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The State Counsellor’s legal team did not know that the former Yangon Region chief minister would be testifying on October 1 until he entered the courtroom, lawyer Khin Maung Zaw says
Description: "State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi is now facing 11 criminal charges put forward by Myanmar’s junta, including five corruption charges each carrying a 15-year prison sentence. One of these cases is based on a statement made by former Yangon Region chief minister Phyo Min Thein, who claimed that he bribed the State Counsellor with US$600,000 and 11.4kg of gold in exchange for protection and business support. Suu Kyi dismissed the allegations as “absurd,” head of her defence team Khin Maung Zaw said. As a central executive committee member of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) party, Phyo Min Thein has been in detention since the February 1 coup. He had been held in an undisclosed location along with his wife until October 1, when he was brought to testify against Aung San Suu Kyi in the Naypyitaw court created by the junta to host her trial. Myanmar Now spoke with Suu Kyi’s lawyer Khin Maung Zaw about Phyo Min Thein’s testimony, and the corruption cases against the State Counsellor. Myanmar Now: Is there physical evidence for the corruption charges Aung San Suu Kyi is facing? Khin Maung Zaw: There is no physical evidence at all. This is written on the front page of the case file. MN: Has there been any occasion where a corruption charge was filed without physical evidence? KMZ: Most of the time, the authorities would have had to hunt for the evidence if it was no longer in the hands of the defendant. For example, if they sold the evidence to a jewelry store, they’d have to confiscate the item from the shop. However, in her case, they just wrote on the case file that there was no physical evidence. MN: In other cases, the official from the anti-graft commission would interrogate the defendant and if they had enough evidence, they’d be sent to court. Did the commission officer first interrogate Aung San Suu Kyi regarding the corruption charges? Or did she only find out about the charges once she got to court? KMZ: Concerning the four corruption cases [that have already been submitted to the court], we weren’t told whether she was interrogated beforehand. Normally, the commission officer would have to look over the case and submit a report, and only under the anti-corruption commission’s approval would the charges be filed. The law states that the suspect would have to be examined beforehand. What’s most important is whether the case is legitimate or not. Another thing to take into consideration is whether the examination process was done in accordance with the law. I say this because the junta’s anti-corruption committee itself is not as ‘clean’ as their name implies. MN: Does that mean that it is a regular procedure for the commission officer to interrogate the defendant before they are sent to the court? KMZ: Yes. The commission officer is like a police officer, so the report they would be making is the same as a police report. You could think of it as a police officer interrogating both the defendant and the plaintiff. MN: The military council is now using Phyo Min Thein as a witness. What could this lead to, legally? KMZ: We can’t disclose any details because we don’t want to leak the information we are going to use in court. We don’t know why they didn’t take action against the alleged bribe giver. Legally, the one who offers the bribe is also guilty in a corruption case. MN: Phyo Min Thein’s voice was barely audible at last week’s court hearing, as you have said, and you told us that he didn’t make eye contact with Aung San Suu Kyi. Can you also describe how she acted during the hearing? KMZ: He was already one of the witnesses in the case file but she only got her copy of the case file on the morning of the hearing. So we didn’t know that he would be coming that day. The judge only said that it was a “civilian witness who was difficult to summon.” We only found out it was him when he came into the room. She wasn’t very surprised to see him, though. She just kept staring at him, in her typical manner. She just sat still and stared. Phyo Min Thein was standing with his back to her, facing the judge. MN: How long did Phyo Min Thein take to make the statement? Did Aung San Suu Kyi say anything at all during that time? KMZ: Nothing. She was just staring at him for 30 minutes. MN: How do you plan to deal with this lawsuit? KMZ: Everything including how we are going to defend her in court, which routes we are going to take, how we are going to use the information that there was no physical evidence and what strings we will pull are all confidential. We can’t disclose any of that. Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team will cross-examine Phyo Min Thein on October 8..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2021-10-05
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar’s military regime has rejected a request for a meeting later this month between the country’s ousted leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) special envoy to Myanmar. Instead of meeting with the detained State Counselor, ASEAN envoy Erywan Yusof has been offered a meeting with former Vice President Henry Van Thio and the former Lower House speaker T Khun Myat, sources said. ASEAN’s envoy has been in talks with the regime since last month over the terms of a visit to Myanmar. Top of his list was a request to talk to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Myanmar’s military seized power from the Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD) government in a February 1 coup. Erywan Yusof, Brunei’s Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, was chosen as ASEAN’s special envoy to Myanmar in August after lengthy wrangling. He has called for full access to all parties when he visits the country, but his efforts to open dialogue between the military regime and the ousted government have failed so far. “There is an urgent need to go now to Myanmar. But I think before all that, I need to have assurances,” the envoy told Reuters last month. The envoy added that he has asked the State Administration Council – the junta’s ruling body – for access to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. In September, the regime’s spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun told AFP, “We will allow meetings with official organizations.” Erywan Yusof plans to visit Myanmar this month, ahead of an ASEAN summit later this month. But the regime has reportedly told him that he will only be allowed to meet Henry Van Thio and T Khun Myat. Both Henry Van Thio, an ethnic Chin former army officer, and T Khun Myat, an ethnic Kachin, are under house arrest, although no charges have been brought against the men. T Khun Myat previously served as an executive member of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. With most of the NLD’s leadership in detention, it is expected that they will not support the ASEAN envoy meeting Henry Van Thio and T Khun Myat. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, is being detained by the junta at an unknown location in Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw. She faces a raft of charges including breaching COVID-19 regulations, sedition, illegal possession of walkie-talkies and a number of corruption cases..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2021-10-04
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar’s detained leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has denied testimony from one of her ousted government’s chief ministers that she took a bribe from him, dismissing his claims as “all absurd”, according to her lawyers. Testifying as a civilian witness, detained Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein told the court last week that he paid her US$600,000 and 7 viss (11.4 kg) of gold. The regime has charged Daw Aung San Suu Kyi with corruption. “She said she didn’t take anything [from him], and he didn’t pay her the gold or dollars,” U Kyi Win, one of her lawyers, quoting her as saying. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team met with her for a few minutes on Monday before her trial hearings. She is facing 11 charges, including corruption charges, brought by the junta since her arrest following the coup in February. “She said U Phyo Min Thein was likely to have been forced [by the junta] to say so under detention,” the lawyer said. Another lawyer said, “‘All absurd’ is what Daw Aung San Suu Kyi commented about the testimony.” The chief minister has been detained by the regime since February. In March, the regime released a video that it claimed proved the graft allegation against detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. In the video, U Phyo Min Thein says he went to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at least three times to give her the money and gold between December 2017 and March 2018. But the video met with public skepticism as the chief minister’s lip movements were not synchronized with the audio. On Friday, however, he appeared before the court and repeated what he said in the video, becoming the first plaintiff witness against her from the National League for Democracy (NLD). U Phyo Min Thein was a member of the Central Executive Committee of the party led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Unlike other senior NLD leaders and chief ministers, he has not faced any legal charges from the junta..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2021-10-01
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar’s deposed President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and Naypyitaw Council chairman Dr. Myo Aung earlier this week pleaded not guilty to charges of incitement brought by the military regime that removed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government in February. The regime led by coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has brought 11 charges against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and two each against U Win Myint and Dr. Myo Aung. It is well known that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was subjected to decades of oppression by successive military regimes. But legal persecution is not new to U Win Myint and Dr. Myo Aung, either. However, the detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in an unknown location and the attempt to imprison her on baseless charges indicate that Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing is more ruthless than his predecessor, Senior General Than Shwe. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest three times spanning a total of 15 years between 1989 and 2010 by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and its successor, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Deposed president U Win Myint and Dr. Myo Aung were also the political prisoners of previous regimes. As Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s popularity grew along with that of the pro-democracy movement in 1988, she was put under house arrest for the first time in July 1989 under Section 10 (b) of the 1975 State Protection Act. The provision carries three years in prison and she was due to be released in July 1992. But in 1991, the regime changed the law and increased the prison term to five years. The amendment meant Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would be kept under arrest for two more years. Her release was due in July 1994, but the regime refused to free her, saying she had been detained under a decree from July 1989 to July 1990, so that period would not be counted in her five-year house arrest. Thanks to the regime’s crafty interpretation, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had to spend six years in total under house arrest and was only released in 1995. In September 2000, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was forcibly stopped at Yangon General Railway Station as she was attempting to leave for Mandalay to campaign for her party. She was taken back to her home in Yangon’s Bahan Township where she spent one year and eight months in confinement until May 2002, without having committed any offence. Just before her second house arrest, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her entourage, while traveling to Kunchangon and Kawhmu townships, were beaten and placed under house arrest for two weeks. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was snatched and taken home by six policewomen from Dala on the opposite bank of Yangon. Among those who were placed under 14 days of house arrest was Dr. Myo Aung, who later served as Naypyitaw Council chairman in the NLD government that was ousted this year. The public support for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi did not wane, despite the regime’s hope that she would fade into obscurity after years of separation from the public. This led to the attempted assassination of the NLD leader while she was on a campaign trip in Tabayin in May 2003. She escaped the attack and was sent to Insein Prison, then again locked up at her house. Her third house arrest began in May 2003. Under the law, the maximum punishment is five years in prison, but again the regime counted the prison term as starting from May 2004. Then, US citizen John Yettaw trespassed upon her lakeside residence in early May 2009, two weeks before her scheduled release from house arrest. This illegal visit prompted prosecution of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under Section 22 of the State Protection Act. People believed the regime used it as an excuse to confine her until the 2010 general election was complete. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was detained at the officers’ quarters of the Correctional Department inside Insein Prison and for the first time put on trial. She was sentenced to three years in prison with labor in August 2009. Consequently, Home Affairs Minister Major General Maung Oo read Snr-Gen Than Shwe’s instruction before the judges, diplomats and journalists that she would only have to serve half of the jail term no matter how many years she was handed by the court. The remainder of the sentence would be suspended and she would be freed from having to serve it if she behaved well. She was placed under house arrest. As scripted and directed by the regime, she was released from house arrest on Nov. 13, 2010, five days after the regime held a general election. Two years later, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi entered the parliament, which was dominated by the ex-generals. Her NLD won a majority in the general election in 2015 and formed the government for the first time, 25 years after winning the 1990 general election, only for the regime to refuse to hand over power. It was the first civilian government in more than five decades, since the 1962 coup by Gen. Ne Win. In the 2020 poll, the NLD again secured an electoral mandate to manage the country for five more years. However, the Myanmar military, which has never enjoyed public support and has never been able to remove Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from Myanmar’s political leadership role, seized power in a coup in February this year. She was arrested for the fourth time at the age of 76 and is being held in an unknown location in Naypyitaw Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is facing 11 charges, a larger number than was brought by former military dictators Senior General Saw Maung and Snr-Gen Than Shwe. Facing at least 75 years in prison, the now 76-year-old would spend the rest of her life behind bars if convicted of all charges..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2021-09-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar’s detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has denied false reports that she didn’t accept armed resistance against the military regime by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs). Last week, fake news circulated online by military supporters stated that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi delivered a message to the public that she denounced the NUG and PDFs’ activities as terrorist acts—the same stand as the regime. The report also falsely claimed the detained leader said armed resistance is not the right approach and that she wants a peaceful solution, and that she urged the public not to support the NUG and PDFs. The NUG was formed by elected lawmakers of the National League for Democracy chaired by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, along with ethnic and civil society leaders, to rival the military junta after the Feb. 1 coup. PDFs were formed by local civilian resistance fighters to defend the junta’s offensives against civilians. The false report came amid increasing attacks on the military regime and its assets by civilian resistance fighters following the parallel NUG’s Sept. 7 declaration of a nationwide defensive war against the junta. And the fake report claimed the message was released by the detained leader through her legal team, which is currently the only link between her and the outside world. Her legal team had previously rejected the reports, saying that no one on the team had been relayed any such information from the State Counselor. They said they asked her to comment on the false reports on Monday before her weekly trial hearing. “When we told her about the report, she asked ‘Do people believe that?’ and added that ‘I would never say words which will dismay the public [or go] against their will,” U Khin Maung Zaw, one of her lawyers who was at the brief meeting with her on Monday before the court hearing, told The Irrawaddy. Since her arrest, the leader has met with no outside persons and was only allowed to have a brief chat with her legal team for the first time on June 7, at the first hearing where she appeared in court in person. The junta has brought a total of six charges against her including alleged violations of COVID-19 restrictions, possession of illegal walkie-talkies, sedition and breaching the Official Secrets Act. The military regime has also filed four corruption charges against her. She faces a potential prison sentence of 75 years. By THE IRRAWADDY 20 September 2021 Myanmar’s detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has denied false reports that she didn’t accept armed resistance against the military regime by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs). Last week, fake news circulated online by military supporters stated that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi delivered a message to the public that she denounced the NUG and PDFs’ activities as terrorist acts—the same stand as the regime. The report also falsely claimed the detained leader said armed resistance is not the right approach and that she wants a peaceful solution, and that she urged the public not to support the NUG and PDFs. The NUG was formed by elected lawmakers of the National League for Democracy chaired by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, along with ethnic and civil society leaders, to rival the military junta after the Feb. 1 coup. PDFs were formed by local civilian resistance fighters to defend the junta’s offensives against civilians. The false report came amid increasing attacks on the military regime and its assets by civilian resistance fighters following the parallel NUG’s Sept. 7 declaration of a nationwide defensive war against the junta. And the fake report claimed the message was released by the detained leader through her legal team, which is currently the only link between her and the outside world. Her legal team had previously rejected the reports, saying that no one on the team had been relayed any such information from the State Counselor. They said they asked her to comment on the false reports on Monday before her weekly trial hearing. “When we told her about the report, she asked ‘Do people believe that?’ and added that ‘I would never say words which will dismay the public [or go] against their will,” U Khin Maung Zaw, one of her lawyers who was at the brief meeting with her on Monday before the court hearing, told The Irrawaddy. Since her arrest, the leader has met with no outside persons and was only allowed to have a brief chat with her legal team for the first time on June 7, at the first hearing where she appeared in court in person. The junta has brought a total of six charges against her including alleged violations of COVID-19 restrictions, possession of illegal walkie-talkies, sedition and breaching the Official Secrets Act. The military regime has also filed four corruption charges against her. She faces a potential prison sentence of 75 years. U Khin Maung Zaw said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi urged the team to point out that they were not being allowed to defend her in accordance with due legal process. At Monday’s court hearing, public prosecutors applied to the court to present an additional witness, an official from the Ministry of Communications, and the defense objected..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2021-09-20
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was unable to appear at a court hearing on Monday for health reasons, a member of her legal team said, describing her condition as dizziness caused by motion sickness. Suu Kyi, 76, who has been detained on various charges since her overthrow in a Feb. 1 military coup, did not have the coronavirus but felt ill having not traveled in a vehicle for a long time, lawyer Min Min Soe said. The popular Nobel Peace Prize winner has spent about half of the past three decades in various forms of detention over her non-violent struggle against dictatorship and her health is closely watched. "It is not serious sickness... She suffered car sickness. She cannot stand that feeling and told us she wanted to take a rest," Min Min Soe told Reuters. Sept 13 (Reuters) - Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was unable to appear at a court hearing on Monday for health reasons, a member of her legal team said, describing her condition as dizziness caused by motion sickness. Suu Kyi, 76, who has been detained on various charges since her overthrow in a Feb. 1 military coup, did not have the coronavirus but felt ill having not traveled in a vehicle for a long time, lawyer Min Min Soe said. The popular Nobel Peace Prize winner has spent about half of the past three decades in various forms of detention over her non-violent struggle against dictatorship and her health is closely watched. "It is not serious sickness... She suffered car sickness. She cannot stand that feeling and told us she wanted to take a rest," Min Min Soe told Reuters. Suu Kyi's only communication with the outside world has been through her legal team, which says its access to her is limited and monitored by authorities. She is on trial in the capital Naypyitaw over charges that include illegal importation and possession of walkie-talkie radios and violating coronavirus protocols. She has been accused of accepting big bribes, and has been charged with unspecified breaches of the Official Secrets Act in a separate and more serious case, which is punishable by up to 14 years in jail. Her lawyers reject all of the allegations. Khin Maung Zaw, who heads her legal team, said Suu Kyi could not take the stand on Monday and the judge consented to her absence. "She seemed to be ill, sneezing and said she was drowsy. Therefore the lawyers talked only briefly with her," he said in a text message..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-09-13
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will return to court next week after two hearings on criminal charges brought against her by the military junta. Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, told journalists Tuesday that she and her two co-defendants, former president Win Myint and former Naypyitaw mayor Myo Aung, heard witnesses testify on charges of sedition in the first hearing. The second hearing involved charges that she violated the country’s Natural Disaster Management Law by breaking COVID-19 restrictions while campaigning during last year’s parliamentary election. Khin Maung Zaw said the hearings have been adjourned until Monday, July 5. The 76-year-old Suu Kyi has been detained since February 1, when her civilian government was overthrown nearly three months after her National League for Democracy party scored a landslide electoral victory. Along with violating COVID-19 restrictions, she has been accused of illegally possessing unlicensed walkie-talkies, breaching the Official Secrets Act, inciting public unrest, misusing land for her charitable foundation, and accepting illegal payments of $600,000 in cash plus 11 kilograms of gold. Ousted president Win Myint and former Naypyitaw mayor Myo Aung are being tried alongside Suu Kyi. Electoral fraud allegation The junta has cited widespread electoral fraud in the November 8 election as a reason for the coup, an allegation the civilian electoral commission denied. The junta has threatened to dissolve the NLD over the allegations. The coup triggered a crisis that led to deadly anti-junta demonstrations and clashes among several armed ethnic groups and the ruling junta. In a campaign to quell the protests, the government has killed more than 800 protesters and bystanders since the takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which tracks casualties and arrests in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: "VOA" (Washington, D.C)
2021-06-29
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Supporters of Myanmar’s detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi wore flowers in their hair and paraded with them at street demonstrations on Saturday as she marked her 76th birthday locked up by the generals who overthrew her. Protests have been held almost daily in Myanmar since Suu Kyi was ousted in a Feb. 1 coup that cut short a decade of democratic reforms and also sparked paralysing strikes and renewed conflict in the Southeast Asian country. The United Nations General Assembly on Friday called for a stop to the flow of arms to Myanmar and urged the military to respect November election results and release political detainees, including Suu Kyi. For decades a symbol of the fight for democracy under previous juntas, she often wore flowers in her hair. Among those wearing flowers on Saturday was activist Thet Swe Win, who had been at odds with Suu Kyi over human rights violations during her own time in office. "I demand freedom for all the people including Aung San Suu Kyi," he said "Her individual rights and political rights are being violated." A junta spokesman did not answer calls to seek comment. Suu Kyi is among nearly 5,000 people currently detained by the junta for opposing the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group. It also says 870 people have been killed - a figure challenged by the junta. The army overthrew Suu Kyi after her administration dismissed its allegations of fraud over her party's landslide election victory last November. International monitors had said the vote was fair. She now faces charges from illegally possessing walkie-talkie radios and breaking coronavirus protocols to inciting discontent, corruption and breaking the Official Secrets Act - which can carry a 14-year jail term. Suu Kyi's lawyers say the charges are absurd and her supporters say they are aimed at eliminating her from politics. The next hearing is set for Monday. Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, but her standing in Western countries collapsed in 2017 over her defence of the army after the exodus of 700,000 minority Rohnigya Muslims in the face of an offensive. But the episode did nothing to dent her popularity in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country. The General Assembly resolution calling for a halt of arms supplies to Myanmar was adopted with the support of 119 countries. Belarus was the only country to oppose it, while 36 abstained, including China and Russia. "The risk of a large-scale civil war is real," U.N. special envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener told the General Assembly after the vote. "Time is of the essence. The opportunity to reverse the military takeover is narrowing."..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: No media in court and heavy police presence outside as former leader faces raft of charges
Description: "The trial of Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi began on Monday in a closed courtroom in Naypyidaw, as the military junta escalated its attempts to remove her as a political threat. No journalists were present at the hearing inside the Naypyidaw council compound, where there was a heavy police presence. The defence lawyer Khin Maung Zaw said Aung San Suu Kyi “seemed not very well” in court, but that throughout the hearing “she seemed quite interested and paid keen attention.” She is suffering from toothache, according to her lawyers, who were escorted to the courtroom by police. Aung San Suu Kyi has been in detention since 1 February when the military seized power, and had just three meetings with her legal team to prepare for the start of the trial. She has been prevented from using the internet or reading anything other than state-controlled media for the past four months. She faces a wide range of charges, including three that were addressed on Monday. Plaintiffs testified that she breached a natural disaster law by breaking coronavirus restrictions in the run-up to last year’s election, and that she broke a communications law and an import law by illegally possessing walkie-talkies. The court also heard testimony alleging that the ousted president, Win Myint, had broken a natural disaster management law. Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the cases brought against Aung San Suu Kyi were an attempt to “nullify her landslide election victory in the November 2020 election and prevent her from ever running for office again”. There was little likelihood she would receive a fair trial, Roberston said. “In fact, the junta gives every indication that this is just the beginning and they will continue to pile on additional cases against Suu Kyi to keep her locked away into the distant future.” The military’s seizure of power has been defiantly opposed by the public, which voted overwhelmingly for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) in last year’s election. Though her international stature diminished following a wave of military violence targeting the country’s marginalised Muslim Rohingya community, Aung San Suu Kyi, who previously spent a total of 15 years in detention campaigning against military rule, is widely revered domestically as an icon of democracy. Street demonstrations have dwindled since the coup, owing to the military’s brutal violence against protesters, but many workers remain on strike, bringing essential services to a standstill. More than 860 people have been killed by the junta since the coup, according to the advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). Security forces have repeatedly opened fire at protesters and bystanders, killing dozens of children. In response, grassroots defence groups have formed across the country, fighting back against the military raids and targeting army officials in shootings and bomb attacks, including in the main city, Yangon. At least 4,863 people are in detention or have been sentenced by the military, which has arrested anyone it suspects of organising against the coup, often during night-time raids. On Monday state media reported that a former head of the country’s Covid vaccination campaign, Dr Htar Htar Lin, had been arrested and faced several charges, including of high treason for colluding with the national unity government, which was established by pro-democracy politicians and has been labelled a terrorist group by the military. Doctors and nurses were among the first to protest against the coup, and many are treating patients in secret, underground clinics because they refuse to work in junta-controlled hospitals. On Monday an American journalist detained since March was released after charges against him were dropped, his lawyer told AFP. Nathan Maung, who founded the local Kamayut Media outlet, has been detained under a colonial-era law that criminalises encouraging dissent against the military. The junta has said it will hold new elections within the next two years, though the public and analysts are extremely sceptical of such promises. The military ruled Myanmar for half a century before transitioning towards democracy in 2011. If Aung San Suu Kyi is convicted, she could be barred from running in any future vote. On Tuesday the court will hear further cases against Aung San Suu Kyi. These include a charge of incitement against her, Win Myint and Dr Myo Aung, the Naypyidaw council chairman and mayor of Naypyidaw city. Aung San Suu Kyi is also accused of breaching the official secrets act, and of corruption charges, though these allegations will be handled separately. According to state media, she allededly accepted $600,000 cash and 11.4kg of gold in bribes, and misused her authority to rent land. Khin Maung Zaw described the claims as absurd. The military has justified seizing power by accusing the NLD of widespread voter fraud, a claim rejected by a group of independent observers, the Asian Network for Free Elections. The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development party fell to a humiliating defeat in the vote..."
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Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
2021-06-14
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Human rights commissioner says junta is ‘singularly responsible for crisis’ before ousted leader’s trial
Description: "Myanmar has descended into a “human rights catastrophe”, the UN’s top human rights official has warned in the run-up to the scheduled start of the trial of the country’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who faces criminal charges that could lead to decades in prison. Aung San Suu Kyi, who previously spent a total of 15 years in detention at the behest of Myanmar’s generals and is widely revered domestically as a symbol of the country’s yearning for democracy, is expected to appear in court in Naypyidaw on Monday. She was placed under house arrest in February when the military launched a coup, provoking defiant protests from the public who demanded the return of democracy. In a statement on Friday, the UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, said the country had “gone from being a fragile democracy to a human rights catastrophe”. After peaceful street demonstrations were crushed by military violence, a growing number of grassroots defence groups have formed to defend themselves against military attacks – at times using little more than homemade hunting rifles to protect their neighbours. Some groups have received support from armed insurgent organisations, which have fought with the army for decades, seeking greater autonomy. The military has deployed heavy weaponry, including airstrikes, against armed groups and civilians to crush such resistance. More than 108,000 people have fled their homes in Kayah state alone, according to the UN. “The military leadership is singularly responsible for this crisis, and must be held to account,” Bachelet said. Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team believes she has little knowledge of what is happening across the country, where key services – such as schools and hospitals – have been brought to a standstill by an anti-coup strike. She has been unable to access the internet, watch television or read anything other than military-controlled media, according to her defence lawyer Khin Maung Zaw. Before her trial, her lawyers have been granted permission to speak with her for just three 30-minute sessions, with the final meeting scheduled for Monday morning. “The time is not sufficient. She even said: six cases, and 30 minutes, it is five minutes for each case,” Khin Maung Zaw said. Aung San Suu Kyi faces a wide range of allegations, though it is not clear which will be dealt with first by the courts. She is accused of breaching coronavirus restrictions during last year’s election, inciting public unrest, violating a telecommunications law and import law by possessing walkie-talkies, and breaking the official secrets act. On Thursday, further charges were announced in state media, which reported that she was accused of accepting $600,000 cash and 11.4kg of gold, in bribes, and misusing her authority to rent land. This case has not yet been referred to the court, according to Khin Maung Zaw. If she is convicted on each charge, and sentencing is handed down consecutively, she “will not be released in a lifetime”, he said. “She is quite experienced, so she is well composed. She doesn’t seem to be afraid or depressed,” he said. “She seemed as determined as ever.” David Mathieson, an independent Myanmar analyst, said the charges were clearly an attempt by the military to justify the coup and discredit Aung San Suu Kyi. “It’s really just to send the message that she was a traitor, corrupt, she thwarted the elections and did it for financial gain, she pretended to be a democratic purist but deep down she was just a cheap crook,” he said. “I don’t think too many people are going to believe it, because look who it is coming from.” At least 861 people have been killed by the junta, according to the advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), while almost 4,800 people are in detention or have been sentenced by the military since it seized control of the country. Protesters, poets, medics, journalists and social media celebrities are among those held. Reports of torture in prisons are widespread. On Thursday, at a trial held at a makeshift court inside a prison, 32 young activists were sentenced to between two and four years in prison for charges including incitement and unlawful assembly, according to local media. A dissident who was released told the independent outlet Myanmar Now that activists had been tortured during interrogation. Pictures printed by the news site showed dark red lashes covering a man’s back. Bachelet said she was “deeply troubled by reports of detainees being tortured” and raised concern over the collective punishment of family members of activists. One mother of an activist was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in place of her son on 28 May, according to the UN. Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial is scheduled take place at a court inside Naypyidaw council, according to Khin Maung Zaw. “As a lawyer practising in Myanmar I have an ethical duty to trust our jurisdiction, our supreme court and subordinate courts,” he said. But he added that, having worked on Aung San Suu Kyi’s case, and those of other political leaders, he was doubtful there would be a fair trial. It is expected that plaintiffs will give evidence next week, and that Aung San Suu Kyi will be cross-examined during the first week of July. However, previous scheduled hearings have been delayed..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
2021-06-11
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Myanmar's military authorities have charged deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi with corruption, the most serious charge laid against her to date.
Description: "Ms Suu Kyi is accused of accepting cash and gold in bribes, and faces up to 15 years in jail if found guilty. She faces six other charges relating to alleged illegal imports of walkie-talkies and inciting public unrest. The former State Counsellor was arrested on 1 February when the military seized power in a coup. She has since been held under house arrest, and little has been seen or heard of her apart from brief court appearances. A press release by the military council on Thursday said Ms Suu Kyi had accepted $600,000 (£425,000) in bribes and seven pieces of gold. It also alleged that the previous civilian government - the National League for Democracy (NLD) - had lost significant sums of money in land deals. Besides Ms Suu Kyi, several other former officials face similar corruption and bribery charges. Prior to this, the most serious charge filed against Ms Suu Kyi had accused her of breaking the official secrets act - which carries a term of up to 14 years in jail. Myanmar coup: What is happening and why? The small embattled town that stood up to the army Street tales from Myanmar: 'Take care of our baby if I die' The 'fallen stars' from Myanmar's deadliest day Myanmar's military seized power earlier in February on accusations of voter fraud. But independent election monitors say the election was largely free and fair, and the charges against Ms Suu Kyi have been widely criticised as politically motivated. The coup triggered widespread demonstrations, and Myanmar's military has brutally cracked down on pro-democracy protesters. They have killed more than 800 people and detained nearly 5,000 to date, according to the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).....Myanmar in profile: Myanmar, also known as Burma, became independent from Britain in 1948. For much of its modern history it has been under military rule Restrictions began loosening from 2010 onwards, leading to free elections in 2015 and the installation of a government led by veteran opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi the following year In 2017, Myanmar's army responded to attacks on police by Rohingya militants with a deadly crackdown, driving more than half a million Rohingya Muslims across the border into Bangladesh in what the UN later called a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing"..."
Source/publisher: "BBC News" (London)
2021-06-10
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: According to a timeline announced on Monday, verdicts in the cases against the state counsellor must be reached by mid-August
Description: "The ongoing trial against state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi must be completed within 180 days, a judge in Naypyitaw declared on Monday. Zabuthiri Township judge Maung Maung Lwin made the remark during Suu Kyi’s second in-person hearing since she and members of her cabinet were first charged on February 16. Suu Kyi, who is 75, faces a total of six charges—five in Naypyitaw and one in Yangon—and a prison sentence of up to 26 years. She has been in military custody since her government was ousted from power in a coup on February 1. The timeline announced on Monday applies to the cases being tried in Naypyitaw and means that the court there will have to issue its verdicts before the middle of August. Monday’s hearing was held at an “exclusive court” specially designed for the trials of Suu Kyi and two other detained cabinet members—president Win Myint and Myo Aung, the chair of the Naypyitaw Council. Starting next week, hearings will take place every Monday and Tuesday, with the court completing its questioning of the plaintiff by June 28, the judge said at the hearing. Suu Kyi has been accused of incitement and violating the Official Secrets Act and the Telecommunications Law. She has also been charged with illegally importing walkie-talkies and faces two charges of breaching Covid-19 protocols during last year’s election campaign. Hearings for the incitement case will take place every Monday together with Win Myint and Myo Aung, who are being tried for the same offence, according to lawyer Khin Maung Zaw, the head of her defence team. Suu Kyi learned for the first time on Monday that the Supreme Court in Naypyitaw had taken over the case filed against her under the Official Secrets Act, her lawyer said. That case, which also applies to three of her cabinet ministers and her economic advisor Sean Turnell, was originally filed at the Yangon Eastern District Court in late March. The Supreme Court announced on May 31 that the next hearing in the case would be held on June 23. It also stated that the defendants would be representing themselves. However, her lawyer said that these decisions were made without Suu Kyi’s consent. “She said she didn’t know about the changes. She also didn’t say she would represent herself. She wants her lawyers to represent her in all of her cases,” Khin Maung Zaw told Myanmar Now. Before the hour-long hearing, Suu Kyi met with her defence team for about 30 minutes, according to her lawyer. During the meeting, he said, Suu Kyi asked for help in finding a way to meet expenses that she has incurred during her detention. Suu Kyi has been detained at an undisclosed location together with eight other individuals and her pet dog Taichido, according to her defence team. “She’s spending her own money, without anyone’s support, month by month. So she asked us to see how we can help with this,” said Khin Maung Zaw. “The family living with her is running out of money. The military council has said they would provide her with the medicine she needs biweekly, but she doesn’t want that,” said Min Min Soe, another lawyer on her legal team. The lawyers said they need to negotiate with the junta to provide an emergency budget for the detained state counsellor and those living with her. Otherwise, they said, Suu Kyi seemed to be faring fairly well under the circumstances. “She’s generally healthy,” said Khin Maung Zaw..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2021-06-07
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The top lawyer for Myanmar's deposed leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, voiced concern on Friday that she had no legal representative listed in the case against her brought by the military junta for breaking the Official Secrets Act. Khing Maung Zaw said the Supreme Court had announced cases to be heard on June 23 against Suu Kyi and four others, including her Australian economic adviser, Sean Turnell, but had listed all of them as representing themselves. "We have concerns that they won't have any legal representatives and there won't be any transparency with hearing," Khin Maung Zaw told Reuters. "Normally, they should contact the defendants and need to give the opportunity to the defendants to contact their lawyers before they announce the case." Reuters was unable to reach the Supreme Court or a junta spokesman for comment. The secrets charges are the most serious ones facing Suu Kyi, 75, and could mean a 14-year jail sentence. She appeared in court for the first time since the coup this month on lesser charges, which include breaking COVID-19 protocols. No explanation has been given for taking the secrets case directly to the Supreme Court, whose verdict cannot be appealed. The army overthrew Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, cutting short a decade of democratic reforms that resulted from a long campaign for democracy that made her a national heroine and won her the Nobel peace prize. The army accused Suu Kyi's party of fraud in its massive victory in a November 2020 election, accusations dismissed by monitors and the then electoral commission. Suu Kyi is among more than 4,500 people who have been detained since the coup, which has plunged Myanmar into chaos - with daily protests, paralysing strikes and a resurgence of ethnic conflicts..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-06-04
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Myanmar/Burma, China, ASEAN, sanctions, pariah states, authoritarian transitions, Aung San Suu Kyi
Topic: Myanmar/Burma, China, ASEAN, sanctions, pariah states, authoritarian transitions, Aung San Suu Kyi
Description: "Abstract: Myanmar’s liberalizing reforms since late 2010 have effectively shed the country’s decades-long “pariah state” status. This article evaluates competing explanations for why Myanmar’s leaders made the strategic decision to pursue reform and opening. We examine whether the strategic decision was motivated by fears of sudden regime change, by socialization into the norms of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), or by the geopolitics of overreliance on China. Drawing on newly available materials and recent field interviews in Myanmar, we demonstrate how difficult it is for international actors to persuade a pariah state through sanctions or engagement, given the pariah regime’s intense focus on maintaining power. However, reliance on a more powerful neighbour can reach a point where costs to national autonomy become unacceptable, motivating reforms for the sake of economic and diplomatic diversification.....Acknowledgments: We gratefully acknowledge the participation of interviewees in Yangon, Naypyidaw, Seoul, and Washington, DC. Research assistance was provided by Andrew Choi, Esther Pau Sann Cing, Li Xuan, Li Zimeng, Wang Qichao, Wu Shangwei, Zhang Xiaorui, and Zhou Xin. We also wish to thank the editor, three anonymous reviewers, and participants at the 2014 Murdoch-Macau Colloquium on Political Change and Governance in Asia, whose comments greatly improved this article. We thank the Asan Institute for Policy Studies for supporting Leif-Eric Easley’s research travel to Myanmar in 2014. Research for this article was funded in part by a grant from the University of Macau (SRG2013-00057-FSS). For over two decades, Myanmar suffered the reputation of an international pariah. After the 1988 coup that inaugurated 22 years of military rule under the State Law and Order Restoration Council / State Peace and Development Council (SLORC/SPDC),1 Myanmar incurred international condemnation and sanctions for human rights violations, including annulling the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) electoral victory in 1990; detaining opposition leaders, including NLD General Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi; killing civilians during military campaigns against armed ethnic minority groups; violently suppressing civil protests in the 2007 “Saffron Revolution”; and muzzling free speech and the press.2 The junta appeared unmoved by sanctions and international exhortations to pursue reform and opening. Its apparent steps toward ending military rule under the 2003 “Roadmap to Discipline-Flourishing Democracy” were often marred by process irregularities, lack of inclusiveness and transparency, and restrictions on and sometimes violent repression of opposition parties. Though the SPDC held landmark elections for a civilian government in November 2010, supporters of democracy were not encouraged when the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) swept the polls and elevated Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein to the presidency. Many were surprised, however, when Thein Sein initiated extensive reforms in 2011: releasing political prisoners, loosening media and civil society restrictions, and allowing Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition members to run for parliament. Myanmar’s pariah status quickly abated as a parade of foreign leaders visited the country and eased sanctions. In November 2015, Myanmar’s first general election under nominally civilian rule saw the NLD defeat the USDP in a landslide, marking a new era in Myanmar’s politics.3 The manner in which Myanmar pursued transformative reforms raises important questions. Why did the SPDC pursue reform and opening when it did? What motivated the strategic decision to pursue transformative policies? Several scholars have argued that domestic factors drove Myanmar’s reforms. Jones maintains that the junta’s co-optation of ethnic militias allowed it to resume a democratization process it had begun and aborted in 1990 and again in 1996.4 Bünte, along with Croissant and Kamerling, emphasizes the aging SPDC leaders’ desire to manage succession politics through institutionalization.5 Roger Lee Huang argues that the junta sought to retain political control but did not foresee the extent of reforms under Thein Sein, an assessment shared by MacDonald.6 Other scholarship emphasizes international factors as primary catalysts for reform. One argument is that Myanmar’s leaders implemented domestic reforms to pursue rapprochement with the European Union, the United States, and other sanctions-imposing countries, and to counterbalance China’s growing political and economic influence.7 Another possible factor behind Myanmar’s transition is the socializing role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and more generally, Myanmar’s desire for international prestige.8 While more than one of these factors may have motivated Myanmar’s reforms, an “all of the above” answer leaves the country’s political transformation over-determined and under-examined. This article weighs the theoretical logic and empirical evidence for three competing explanations for Myanmar’s strategic decision to pursue transformative policies: first, junta leaders’ desire to maintain power and avoid sudden regime change; second, socialization into ASEAN norms; and third, the desire to reduce China’s political and economic influence over Myanmar.9 We base our research on numerous interviews with key informants in or engaged with Myanmar, as well as on primary documents. We find that while multiple factors motivated Myanmar’s strategic decision, the most important driver was concern about China’s growing influence. To frame the analysis, the next section defines pariah states and what it means to make a strategic decision to pursue transformative policies and exit pariahdom. We then briefly outline our interview methodology before discussing the timing of Myanmar’s transformative reforms. Subsequent sections review theoretical bases and empirical support for each of the three competing explanations. In the conclusion, we summarize our findings and discuss possible implications for other pariah states and for Myanmar’s political future..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Pacific Affairs (Canada)
2016-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-28
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Sub-title: Toppled democratic leader makes clear in a military court appearance that she and her party represent Myanmar's agitated people
Description: "Myanmar’s deposed and detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in court on Monday, her first public appearance since a February 1 military coup toppled her elected government and set off waves of popular dissent and resistance. Although it was only a first 30-minute hearing, the legal process could lead to her eventual imprisonment and the dissolution of her political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). Suu Kyi stands accused by the military of several charges ranging from possession of illegally imported walkie-talkies to violating the 1923 colonial-era Official Secrets Act. But the reality, most Myanmar observers say, is that the top brass wants to punish the government she led since 2016 and nullify the outcome of the November 2020 election where the NLD scored yet another landslide victory, as it did in 2015 and 1990. The military’s accusations of electoral fraud are not what independent, international election observers saw when they monitored the poll last year. With the military now firmly in charge of the country’s central institutions since the coup, the eventual outcome of the court cases against Suu Kyi is not in doubt – she will inevitably be found guilty and banned from politics. That, in turn, could set the stage for new elections rigged in favor of the military and without the participation of the NLD. Those verdicts, whenever they are handed down, will surely spark more furious unrest in a country that has descended into chaos and anarchy since the military made the fateful decision to seize power on the day a newly elected parliament was scheduled to meet for the first time in Naypyitaw. The coup has also restored Myanmar to pariah status internationally, with Western criticism and sanctions heaped on the coup makers. At the same time, coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is coming under fire from within the military — not because of the power grab as such, but for his inability to consolidate it. Internally, he has reportedly been mocked as only being good at making donations to pagodas and for being “the prince of bangs and pots”, a reference to the way people across the country are venting their anger at the coup by banging pots and pans. The coup was immediately met by massive demonstrations all over Myanmar, with pro-democracy protesters often waving Suu Kyi’s image on banners and signs, and has been followed by a fierce response from the military. More than 800 protesters and bystanders have been killed and about 4,000 people detained since the putsch. And the violence and persecution are far from over. What began as peaceful protests have morphed into violent clashes between the military, the police and anti-coup activists who in some places have organized their own armed bands. In Kayah state in the east armed partisans overran and burned down a police station on May 23. According to the Kantarawaddy Times, a local website, at least 15 policemen were killed in the raid and four captured alive. Twenty-six Myanmar army soldiers have reportedly been killed elsewhere in Kayah state over the past few days. The same news source reported that one resistance fighter was killed and five wounded during the clash. In Mindat in the west, resistance fighters armed with hunting rifles and homemade guns took over the town before the military responded with heavy artillery and fire from helicopters. Elsewhere in Myanmar, bombings are becoming daily occurrences and the targets are military-controlled banks, companies and local governmental offices. A huge fire raged at a government building in the northern city of Myitkyina in Kachin state on May 23. On the same day, a bomb exploded in front of the municipal office and explosions as well as gunfire could be heard in Sanchaung in the country’s largest city and commercial capital Yangon. Apart from igniting armed resistance by locally raised and previously unknown forces, the war between ethnic armed groups in Kayin and Kachin states and the Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw, has flared anew. In Kayin state, more than 20,000 people have had to flee the fighting while the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has overrun a number of army positions and police stations, most recently in Hkamti in northern Sagaing Division on May 22. Airbases in Meiktila, Magwe and Toungoo have come under rocket attacks in what appears to be ethnic rebels working with urban dissidents. Among those arrested by junta forces are journalists, activists, health workers and teachers who have taken part in protests against the coup. According to a May 23 Reuters report quoting an official of the teachers’ federation who declined to give his name for fear of reprisals, 125,000 school teachers of the country’s total of 430,000 have been suspended. The number of doctors and nurses who have lost their jobs is not known, but is thought to be considerable. Many educated people, fearing arrests, have managed to leave the country leading to yet another brain drain, similar to those after the first military takeover in 1962 and the crushing of a pro-democracy uprising in 1988. The country could tilt towards further anomie without a circuit breaker. Banks are not functioning and the economy is in a shambles amid countrywide strikes and unrest. There are rising reports of soldiers and police seemingly at random breaking into people’s homes, destroying furniture and stealing whatever they can lay their hands on. Other reports indicate that soldiers and policemen have been given methamphetamine pills to jack them up before being deployed to crack down on protesters, which could explain their often erratic and wildly violent behavior. The only statement that came out of the May 24 court hearing was that a defiant Suu Kyi said that the NLD “was established by the people so the party will be there as long as the people are.” It’s impossible to predict how that short utterance from the country’s iconic democratic leader will impact or ignite an already volatile situation on the ground. What is clear, however, is that she acknowledged her followers are now pitted against the military, an institution she had tried to accommodate and work with while in power. It’s also clear that whatever sympathy and support the public may have had for the Tatmadaw are long gone as soldiers rampage, kill and loot with increasingly reckless abandon – a point that some say may be forming schisms in the military. If Min Aung Hlaing is eventually replaced, which is still far from certain, it doesn’t mean his successor would take a more conciliatory approach to the country’s civilian leaders, including Suu Kyi, and her affiliated pro-democracy movement. But as long as he remains in place and Suu Kyi is in the dock on trumped-up charges, Myanmar’s people-versus-the military struggle will likely accelerate and spread..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2021-05-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in court in person Monday for the first time since the military arrested her when it seized power on Feb. 1, Myanmar media reported. One of her lawyers, Min Min Soe, told The Associated Press by phone that Suu Kyi was able to meet with her defense team before her hearing began at a special court set up inside the city council building in Naypyitaw, the capital. The hearing’s purpose was procedural. The lawyers also met with Win Myint, who was president in the government that Suu Kyi led as state counsellor, and a defendant on some of the same charges she faces. Suu Kyi had been charged with several criminal offenses, but her only previous court appearances had been by video link, and she had not been allowed to meet in person with any of her lawyers. Min Min Soe said Suu Kyi had a message for Myanmar’s people to the effect that her National League for Democracy party would stand by them. “The main thing (she said) is that she always wishes good health and well-being for all the people, and she also said that since the NLD was founded for the people, the NLD will exist as long as the people exist,” said Min Min Soe said after the hearing. “She looks fresh, healthy and full of confidence,” she added. Monday’s hearing concerned several of the six charges Suu Kyi faces. These are two counts of violating the Natural Disaster Management Law for violating COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign; illegally importing walkie-talkies that were for her bodyguards’ use; unlicensed use of the radios; and spreading information that could cause public alarm or unrest. The most serious charge that Suu Kyi faces is breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a penalty of up to 14 years’ imprisonment, but that is being handled by a separate court. Suu Kyi’s supporters say the proceedings against her are politically motivated and meant to try to legitimize the military’s seizure of power and discredit her. If convicted of any of the offenses, she could be banned from running in the election that the junta has said it will hold within one or two years of its takeover. The military ousted Suu Kyi’s government less than three months after her National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory in a general election that would have given it a second five-year term in office. Before the start of democratic reforms a decade ago, Myanmar was ruled by the military for 50 years. The junta claims it was justified in taking power because of alleged widespread electoral fraud, especially irregularities in the voting lists. The Asian Network for Free Elections, a non-partisan poll watching organization, in a report issued last week rejected the military’s allegations of massive fraud, saying the results of last November’s voting were representative of the will of the people. On Friday, however, the head of Myanmar’s military-appointed state election commission said his agency will consider whether to dissolve Suu Kyi’s former ruling party for alleged involvement in electoral fraud and whether those involved “should be punished as traitors.” The junta has accused Suu Kyi of corruption and presented on state television what it said was evidence that she took bribes, but has so far only said it intends to pursue charges for that offense. Her lawyers dismiss the allegations. Several cases are also pending against other senior members of Suu Kyi’s party in addition to Win Myint, the ousted president. Australian economist Sean Turnell, who served as Suu Kyi’s adviser and was also detained on the day of the army’s takeover, has been charged with violating the Official Secrets Act..."
Source/publisher: "Associated Press" (New York)
2021-05-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi was in good health and would face court in the coming days, in excerpts of an interview published online on Saturday. It was his first interview since overthrowing Suu Kyi in a Feb. 1 coup. "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health. She is at her home and healthy. She is going to face trial at the court in a few days," he said by video link with the Hong Kong-based Chinese language broadcaster Phoenix Television. "Like I said before, she tried all she could."..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-05-22
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-23
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Description: "Myanmar’s junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi was healthy at home and would appear in court in a few days, in his first interview since overthrowing her in a Feb. 1 coup. The coup has plunged the Southeast Asian country into chaos. An ethnic armed group opposed to the ruling junta attacked a military post in a northwestern jade mining town while other violent incidents were reported from other corners of Myanmar. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate for her long struggle against previous military rulers, is among more than 4,000 people detained since the coup. She faces charges that range from illegally possessing walkie-talkie radios to violating a state secrets law. "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health. She is at her home and healthy. She is going to face trial at the court in a few days," Min Aung Hlaing said by video link with the Hong Kong-based Chinese language broadcaster Phoenix Television on May 20, in excerpts released on Saturday. The interviewer asked him what he thought of the performance of Suu Kyi, 75, who is widely admired in the country of 53 million for her campaign that had brought tentative democratic reforms which were cut short by the coup. "She tried all she could," Min Aung Hlaing responded. He reiterated that the army had seized power because it had identified fraud in an election won by Suu Kyi's party in November - although its accusations were rejected by the then election commission. He said the army would hold elections and potential changes to the constitution had been identified and would be made if they were "the people's will". Suu Kyi's next court appearance is due on Monday in the capital Naypyidaw. So far she has appeared only by video link and as yet to be allowed to speak directly to her lawyers. The junta has cited security reasons for not allowing her to speak to her lawyers in private at a time the military authorities have not established control of the country in the face of daily protests, strikes and renewed insurgencies.....ATTACK ON JADE TOWN: The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) attacked an army post at Hkamti township in the Sagaing region early on Saturday, the Irrawaddy and Mizzima online publications said. Pictures showed columns of dark smoke rising from the scene. KIA spokesman Naw Bu told Reuters he was aware of the attack but could give no details. Reuters was unable to reach a junta spokesman for comment. State run-MRTV television reported the attack and said that three police had been wounded and others were missing. Independent broadcaster DVB said nine were captured by the insurgents. Since the coup, open conflict resumed between the army and the KIA, which has been fighting for greater autonomy for the Kachin people for some six decades and has voiced support for anti-junta protesters. Mizzima said the army used jets in attacks on the KIA at Hkamti, a town on the Chindwin river in a remote region rich in jade and gold about 50 km (30 miles) from the border with India. The army has carried out numerous bombing attacks on KIA positions in recent weeks and has also clashed with ethnic armies in the east and west of Myanmar. Security forces have killed at least 815 people since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group. Min Aung Hlaing said the actual figure was around 300 and that 47 police had also been killed. State-run MRTV said one policeman had been killed in an insurgent attack in eastern Kayah state on Friday. In western Chin state, junta opponents said they had killed at least four members of the security forces on Friday and had buried them by the roadside. The claim could not be independently verified. Myanmar media reported that a soldier had been killed in a shooting in the commercial hub, Yangon, on Saturday. Bomb blasts were reported there, at Pathein in the Irrawaddy delta region and at a trading zone near the border with China..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-05-23
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "It's been a hundred days since the military in Myanmar staged a coup and detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The time since has been marked by protests, violence and uncertainty. Myanmar's junta has designated the rival National Unity Government (NUG) a terrorist group, blaming it for killings, bombings and arson, state media said on Saturday. After Myanmar's February 1 coup, a group of ousted lawmakers — many of them previously part of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party — formed a shadow government. State-controlled television slammed the NUG as a terror group, as well as the affiliated Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) group..."
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Source/publisher: "DW News" (Germany)
2021-05-10
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to attend her next court hearing in person, her chief lawyer said on Monday, after weeks of stalled virtual proceedings over charges her supporters say are fabricated. Since her arrest hours before a Feb. 1 military coup, Suu Kyi has been held at her residence in Naypyitaw and faces numerous, mostly minor charges filed in two courts, the most serious under a colonial-era official secrets act, punishable by 14 years in prison. "The presiding judge declared that by the instruction of the Union Supreme Court, the cases were to be heard in person, not virtually by video conferencing," her legal team head, Khin Maung Zaw, said in a text message, referring to Monday's hearing. He said the judge "told us that the problem will eventually be solved", and that Suu Kyi asked what the judge meant by "eventually". Suu Kyi, 75, has been permitted to speak with lawyers only via a video link in the presence of security personnel. Her co-defendant is Win Myint, the ousted president. Her lawyers have said they have discussed with Suu Kyi only her legal case and do not know the extent to which she is aware of the crisis in her country. Khin Maung Zaw said his team was seeking access to Suu Kyi before the next hearing on May 24, without interference of others. He said he reminded the judge "that it is the undeniable right of the defendants to meet and give instructions to the defence counsel in a private meeting"...."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-05-10
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Four years into the five-year term of the NLD-led government, the issue of political prisoners remains one of the main problems in the country. Almost all the repressive laws that the military dictatorship used to jail activists remain in place. State media controlled by the NLD government has even carried propaganda features defending and promoting the usefulness of repressive laws, and new repressive laws have been proposed. On the sixth anniversary of the death of U Win Tin, almost 200 political prisoners remain in jail, and almost 400 more activists and journalists are awaiting trial and possible detention. Aung San Suu Kyi, as de facto leader of the NLDled government, has the power through Presidential pardons to order the release of all political prisoners. Her party has the majority in Parliament needed to repeal all repressive laws. Instead of the compassionate and principled stance you would expect of her as a former political prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi denies that there are political prisoners in the country and has made a deliberate decision to keep those political prisoners behind bars. This is not an issue where it can be claimed that she lacks the power to act or is constrained by the military. The military handed the power regarding political prisoners to the civilian government. Constitutionally there is no obstacle, and politically Aung San Suu Kyi has repeatedly acted on issues which she considers important despite potentially upsetting the military, including making herself defacto President by creating the State Counsellor position for herself..."
Source/publisher: "Burma Campaign UK" (London)
2020-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi reminded diplomats on June 2 to take care of Myanmar migrant workers who have lost jobs in other countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Description: "Only when a country shows respect for its citizens will other nations do the same, she said. "We must care for every one of our citizens,” she told Myanmar officials posted in Thailand, China and South Korea during a video conference. “We have to value our citizens. If we don't, other countries will act the same." Thousands of Myanmar workers have returned home from China and Thailand since last month after losing their jobs due to COVID-19. Hundreds of migrants have also returned from Malaysia, South Korea, Middle East, among others. Last weekend, Myanmar diplomats in Thailand said that some 34,000 migrant workers have indicated they will return home soon. "The duties of diplomats are very important. The embassy represents our country,” she said. She said Myanmar diplomats should always be ready to help citizens in need. “The Myanmar people should know there is an embassy at their service whenever they have problems, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible to let people know that,” she said. An estimated 4 million Myanmar citizens work abroad. In 2019, over 305,000 people left the country to work in other countries..."
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Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2020-06-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar’s official public messaging about the coronavirus pandemic began with a video. To airy elevator music and a placid voiceover, Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s de facto leader, stood in a nondescript bathroom and demonstrated the proper way to wash hands. It all seemed very calming and benevolent, with Suu Kyi acting out the maternal role she is accorded by her supporters. Before the video was posted online on March 21, the government also established a coronavirus task force. But all the while, it sought to downplay the likelihood that COVID-19 would wreak havoc in Myanmar to the same degree it had elsewhere. When the first positive cases soon cropped up, Suu Kyi opened a Facebook account—her first, and likely an attempt to better personalize her relationship with the public—to, as she put it, “communicate faster and more efficiently” on coronavirus-related developments. While Suu Kyi focused on public relations, others among the country’s leadership, which is still dominated by the military despite a transition to civilian rule, quickly and very publicly inserted themselves into the pandemic response. When reports of the first deaths from COVID-19 in Myanmar began to circulate in late March, senior officials aligned with the military established their own coronavirus task force. Stacked with high-ranking military members of the Cabinet and headed by the military-appointed vice president, U Myint Swe, a former general, it set about opening a quarantine center in the capital, Naypyidaw. As the number of cases in Myanmar crept up, the military sought to redirect more of the spotlight away from Suu Kyi and toward itself. In parliament, where a quarter of the seats are constitutionally reserved for the military, the men in green did the sensible thing and wore surgical masks, a precaution civilian members of parliament had failed to adopt. This public jockeying to project authority during the pandemic is indicative of the political tensions and rivalries that existed in Myanmar before COVID-19 hit. In 2015, Suu Kyi’s political party, the National League for Democracy, competed in elections for the first time in a quarter century—and won. By defeating the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party at the polls, the NLD brought an end to overt military rule and raised hopes for genuine change. Yet Suu Kyi—who promised to develop the economy, institute deep democratic reforms and promote unity by ending the country’s many internal conflicts—has offered up little to show for her five years of leadership. Her immense popularity may now be beginning to wane. With elections due in November, the military has started unofficial campaign efforts to retake some of its lost ground..."
Source/publisher: "World Politics Review (WPR)"
2020-05-12
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The five-point statement released by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi on April 21 has infuriated and surprised many, as it is a testimony that she has transformed herself from being an alliance partner of the ethnic political parties (EPPs); mediator between the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and the Military or Tatmadaw; to an adversary of both the EPPs and EAOs. The third point statement writes: “When the whole country’s government (servants), people, voluntaries are trying utmost to prevent, control and cure coronavirus disease (COVID-19), due to the terrorist group United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) implementing destructive actions in Arakan State and Chin State, the Tatmadaw soldiers and officials, risking their lives and bravely discharging their duties, to protect the lives, homes and wealth of the people, are duly acknowledged and praised with honor.”(Unofficial translation by the writer.) Let us now look at the different phases of Suu Kyi in her relationship with the EPPs, EAOs and in general with the ethnic nationalities. It goes without saying that National League for Democracy (NLD) is identified with Suu Kyi and the party is in no way seen as an institution, as it relies overwhelmingly on the her popularity and charismatic leadership..."
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Source/publisher: "Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar)
2020-04-27
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Myanmar leader's live broadcasts on Facebook draws hundreds of thousands of views.
Description: "Broadcasting live from Myanmar's capital, Naypyidaw, Aung San Suu Kyi shuffled some papers, looked straight at the camera and smiled before welcoming her guests to a teleconference call on Facebook. "Currently, migrant workers are coming back from Thailand and some have resettled in the country. So we are taking the necessary steps to provide quarantine facilities," the country's de facto leader told the more than 300,000 viewers who had tuned into her broadcast on Wednesday. More: Displaced families in Myanmar's Kachin fear coronavirus threat Christian pastor who defied Myanmar law positive for coronavirus Myanmar military steps up attacks as coronavirus spreads Alongside her, the screen featured three of Myanmar's labour leaders. The first topic of the day was about how returning migrant workers could minimise the spread of the new coronavirus in the impoverished country. "Those gathered in large groups could be a danger to themselves and the country if they don't follow the rules," Suu Kyi said. The 74-year-old state counsellor heads Myanmar's coronavirus response team and has reluctantly turned to Facebook to spread her message on the challenges posed by COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus..."
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Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-04-24
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The award was granted to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi three years ago.
Description: "The City of London Corporation (CLC) on Thursday revoked an honour granted to Aung San Suu Kyi over the treatment of minority Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Elected representatives on the body that runs London's historic centre and financial district voted to revoke the freedom of the city granted to Suu Kyi three years ago. More: ICJ orders Myanmar to protect Rohingya Myanmar finds war crimes but no genocide in Rohingya crackdown 'Justice served': Rohingya in Bangladesh hail ICJ order This move in the United Kingdom followed Suu Kyi's appearance, as Myanmar's civilian leader, at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in December to personally defend her country against allegations of rape, arson and mass killings against Rohingya victims..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-03-06
Date of entry/update: 2020-03-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "In this episode of UpFront we challenge Aung San Suu Kyi's former spokesperson on allegations of genocide in Myanmar's Rakhine state. And we debate the police response to protests in France against President Emmanuel Macron's government with La Republique En Marche MP Roland Lescure..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-02-21
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday that the country’s unresolved political problems are the root cause of failure to end hostilities between the government military and ethnic armed groups as Myanmar continues to strive for permanent peace. “The governments of the successive periods have tried their best to put an end to the armed conflicts and restore peace to our motherland, but have not yet achieved the goals of peace,” she said in her capacity as chairperson of the Central Committee for the Development of Border Areas and National Races at the 73rd Union Day ceremony in Panglong, also known as Pinlon, in Myanmar’s southern Shan state. As state counselor, Aung San Suu Kyi has made ending Myanmar’s armed conflicts and forging peace the cornerstone of her administration, but the peace process has been stymied by ongoing fighting between Myanmar forces and rebel armies in outlying ethnic regions and by the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine state. Her civilian-led government has held three sessions of the 21st-Century Panglong Conference attended by delegates from the government, military, and ethnic armed organizations..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2020-02-12
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: NLD government has prioritized graft-busting but the business-minded military is still immune
Description: "Myanmar was widely viewed as one of the most opaque and mismanaged countries in the world throughout decades of abusive and unaccountable military rule. That was supposed to change with the transition to democracy in 2015, with Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party resoundingly voted into power on a promise of change and reform. Now, as Myanmar enters a new election season pitting her NLD against the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the NLD’s anti-corruption record is expected to feature on the campaign trail. Certain international measures are on the NLD’s side. Global graft watchdog Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perception Index saw Myanmar move up two positions, from 132nd in 2018 to 130th out of 180 ranked countries in 2019. That ranking has slowly but steadily improved since Suu Kyi assumed electoral power in 2016, when Myanmar ranked 136th on the index. That’s quantifiable international recognition of her government’s anti-graft battle, a campaign of new laws, high-profile arrests and sackings, and improved collaboration on graft issues with the private sector..."
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Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2020-02-11
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "In Taunggyi, the capital of Myanmar’s ethnically diverse Shan State, students, nurses and marching bands lined the streets to welcome State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi on her way to to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of Union Day on February 12. This was the day, in 1947, that Suu Kyi’s father General Aung San signed the Panglong Agreement, a preliminary accord with several ethnic groups (but crucially, not all) that has since been viewed as a touchstone of betrayal among Myanmar’s minorities toward central government rule and its unmet promises of federalism. Since taking power in early 2016, Suu Kyi has reformulated Union Day and its associated Panglong “spirit” as a vehicle for uneven ethnic peace-building and unification based on ethnic Burman domination. At this year’s event, the government fused military-era propaganda with Suu Kyi’s iron-discipline homilies and vague appeals to peace, “genuine Democratic Federal Union” and protecting the youth from the evils of drugs, crucially “(t)o strive with the collective strength of all ethnic nationals for rule of law, a fair justice system and the security and safety of all citizens.” Suu Kyi’s concept of “unity”, it appears, is to celebrate ethnic diversity by commodifying and controlling it, not by seeing ethnic communities as equals or granting political concessions, economic equality and ending entrenched discrimination..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2020-02-12
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar university students staged a rare protest during a speech by the country’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi at an education sector event in the capital Naypyidaw on Tuesday, criticizing the civilian-led government’s decision to extend the academic year by one month. She was giving the opening speech at an education sector development workshop at the Myanmar Convention Center when students from the Yangon University Union, Sagaing University Student Union, and Educational College Union stood up with signs objecting to the Ministry of Education’s extension of the school year to March. Other students demonstrated in a hallway outside the room where Aung San Suu Kyi was speaking. They also blasted a decision by the ministry to cut in half the current 10-day classes for students enrolled in distance-learning courses. Students from Mandalay’s Yadanabon University protested against the move in October, saying it would create additional expenses and hassle by requiring them to be physically present on campus for on-site classes two different times before taking their exams beginning with the 2020 school year, the Myanmar Times reported..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2020-01-28
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Gambian Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou's actions brought Aung San Suu Kyi to The Hague to deny that her country's military was committing a genocide. As the UN's highest court orders measures to prevent further mass killings, Anna Holligan takes a look at the man taking on the Nobel laureate.
Description: "It was an unexpected detour that led Abubacarr Tambadou from his home in the tiny West African country of The Gambia to experience an epiphany on the edge of a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. Listening to survivors' stories he said the "stench of genocide" began drifting across the border into Bangladesh from Myanmar. "I realised how much more serious it was than the flashes we'd seen on television screens," he told the BBC. "Military and civilians would organise systematic attacks against Rohingya, burn down houses, snatch babies from their mothers' arms and throw them alive into burning fires, round up and execute men; girls were gang-raped and put through all types of sexual violence." The Rohingya are a Muslim minority in mainly Buddhist Myanmar. 'Just like Rwanda' These chilling scenes reminded Mr Tambadou of events in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide that claimed the lives of about 800,000 people. "It sounded very much like the kind of acts that were perpetrated against the Tutsi in Rwanda. "It was the same modus operandi - the process of dehumanisation, calling them names - it bore all the hallmarks of genocide..."
Source/publisher: "BBC News" (London)
2020-01-23
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: 'Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her partners in crimes should know that denial is a part of genocide'
Description: "After having co-presided with the visiting Chinese president Xi Jinping over the signing of 33 agreements, including bilateral trade deals, Memorandums of Understanding, strategic partnership agreements, and technical cooperation, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was all smile again this Monday. On the official website of Myanmar's Independent Commission of Enquiry, smiley Ms Suu Kyi was seen posing for cameras as the former Deputy Foreign Minister of the Philippines Ms Rosario Manalo presented her with the final report of the Myanmar-established Independent Commission of Enquiry which the Philippines diplomat chaired. The Free Rohingya Coalition, an international network of Rohingya refugee activists and their supporters, issued a statement, refuting the findings of the commission that there is “no” or “insufficient” evidence to establish the genocidal intent behind Myanmar’s destruction of the Rohingya community in Rakhine state and the mass deportations of estimated 800,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh in 2016-2017..."
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Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
2020-01-21
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "China’s president Xi Jinping expressed his support for Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is accused of overseeing a genocide against Rohingya Muslims. During a meeting in Myanmar with Suu Kyi, Xi signed 33 infrastructure and trade deals between the two countries, a move that makes China Myanmar’s largest investor. According to Myanmar’s state-run media, Xi called his visit a “historical moment” for their bilateral relations. Suu Kyi, a 74-year-old Nobel peace laureate, was once seen on the same level as Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi. Her reputation has been damaged however, when she defended her country against a genocide complaint at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. She said that Myanmar was defending itself against attacks by militants. The country denounces claims that it tried to exterminate the minoruty in a bloody 2017 crackdown by its military, during which some 740,000 Rohingya were forced to flee into camps in Bangladesh. Next week the court will rule on whether “emergency measures” should be taken against Myanmar..."
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Source/publisher: New Europe (Brussels)
2020-01-20
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Myanmar - China, Aung San Suu Kyi, Bangladesh, Business & Economy
Sub-title: China's President Xi Jinping is expected to tie up Belt and Road Initiative deals during his visit to Myanmar.
Topic: Myanmar - China, Aung San Suu Kyi, Bangladesh, Business & Economy
Description: "China's President Xi Jinping will visit Myanmar on Friday to ink massive infrastructure deals and extend influence in a neighbouring country whose ties with the West were frayed by accusations that it conducted genocidal policies against ethnic Muslim-majority Rohingya people. This is Xi's first visit to the Southeast Asian country as the leader of China - and the first visit of any Chinese president in 19 years. Analysts say Xi will bid to revive stalled multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects central to his flagship Belt and Road Initiative, which is described as a "21st-century Silk Road". More: Myanmar to release its Rohingya crackdown investigation results ICJ to rule on emergency measures in Myanmar genocide case World Bank gives China billions in loans despite US objections Xi is scheduled to meet state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and army chief Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyitaw, in addition to meeting with the heads of minor political parties. Historically, the two countries have had a sometimes fraught relationship, with many in Myanmar suspicious of the tremendous sway that China holds over its smaller neighbour..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-01-17
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Social media, Facebook, General Election, 2020, Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar
Topic: Social media, Facebook, General Election, 2020, Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar
Description: "Myanmar is gearing up for elections this year. The general election, tentatively scheduled for some time in November, will essentially pit Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) against the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the country’s two major political parties. As the country inches closer to D-Day, one thing political analysts and observers will be keeping a close watch on is social media – especially popular platform, Facebook. According to statistics from global social media agency, We Are Social, Myanmar doesn’t do too shabbily when it comes to social media penetration in the country. While there is certainly room to grow, the numbers are already significant. As of January 2019, Myanmar had 21 million active social media users – a 39 percent penetration rate for its 54.1 million population. This is an increase of three million (17 percent) compared to the same period in 2018. Of that number, Facebook has an audience of 21 million, coming in first place for social media platforms in Myanmar. In comparison, Instagram was second with an audience of just 810,000. We Are Social also noted that Facebook is the third most visited website by Myanmar netizens after Google and YouTube which came in first and second, respectively..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The ASEAN Post" (Malaysia)
2020-01-15
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with ethnic Karenni youth in eastern Kayah state Wednesday to discuss local grievances there, the latest step to shore up her ruling National League for Democracy’s relations with ethnic groups as the party faces year-end elections. The visit, and a trip on Jan. 10 to Kachin state, follows the formation last September of a new committee dedicated to engaging with and promoting relations with ethnic political parties in the multiethnic country that has seen decades of internal warfare. Aung San Suu Kyi’s travel also comes as her government grapples with a sputtering peace process marked by ongoing warfare between national forces and rebel ethnic armies in its far-flung regions, producing hundreds of thousands of displaced villagers. She had made forging peace and creating a democratic federal union the primary goals of her administration after winning elections in 2015. It also came as the government faces genocide-related lawsuits in three international courts, including the U.N.’s top court, the International Court of Justice. The ICJ will issue a decision on Jan. 23 on a request filed by Gambia to order provisional measures to prevent further violence against Rohingya Muslims, 740,000 of whom were driven into exile in Bangladesh in 2017..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2020-01-15
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: CHINA, BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE, XI JINPING, MYANMAR, AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Sub-title: Chinese leader to make historic Jan 17-18 visit in bid to advance contested Belt and Road Initiative
Topic: CHINA, BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE, XI JINPING, MYANMAR, AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Description: "When Xi Jinping travels to Myanmar on January 17, it will be the first visit by a sitting Chinese president since Jiang Zemin toured the country in December 2001. Xi’s visit will show just how much times have changed between now and then. Jiang visited Myanmar when it was still ruled by a military junta and China was the then isolated nation’s closest ally. Xi, on the other hand, will be meeting democratically elected leaders and China is no longer the country’s only important partner. Countries such as Japan and India are now vying for influence by offering various kinds of assistance — economic, political and in the case of India even military — to challenge China’s previously dominant role. But in a curious twist of events, Myanmar’s still-powerful and autonomous military is the one wary of China and its intentions. The top brass see it as their duty to protect the country’s sovereignty, while nominal leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a politician who wants here government to be re-elected this year, has turned to Beijing for economic and other assistance after her previous allies and admirers in the West distanced themselves from her over the Rohingya refugee crisis..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2020-01-16
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: She was once a beacon of democracy standing up to the country’s military but the genocide against the Rohingya has left Suu Kyi painfully exposed...Nobody denies the intractable difficulties she and her country face. But she ought to have used her moral authority to address the ethnic divide.
Description: "Is she Cersei Lannister: cold, cynical and deadly? Or Sansa Stark: noble, long-suffering and genuine? Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi – the general’s daughter presiding over a desperately fragile state – has been transformed from being the military’s nemesis into its leading apologist or, worse yet, its enabler. As the proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) gear up and Myanmar again comes under global scrutiny, many have asked how she could have become so reviled? She has allowed the darkest forces in her nation to wreak violence against the long oppressed Muslim Rohingya minority, whom she refuses to acknowledge..."
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Source/publisher: "South China Morning Post" (Hong Kong)
2019-12-16
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-12
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Description: "Suu Kyi returned from the Hague on 14th December. She was received at the airport by enthusiastic colleagues and the people that included Members of Parliament, Locals, teachers and students. Significantly, no Senior Army Official was present. At the court, in her final submission, Suu Kyi said that the case filed by Gambia should be dismissed or alternatively, the provisional measures requested by Gambia should be dismissed. It should be noted that decisions on both the counts of “intent of Genocide” or “provisional measures” to protect the Rohingyas from future threats of violence will take a long time and are not enforceable also unless it is brought to the Security Council again for action. Here again both China and Russia may come to Myanmar’s rescue. It is in this connection, Joe Kumbum’ (an analyst from Kachin under a pseudonym) has suggested that Myanmar should keep in touch with the Western powers lest it does not go over to the Chinese. My response would be that it is the Western Powers including the USA that should take the initiative. Suu Kyi while conceding that excesses may have taken place said that the country has had one Court Martial to try the guilty officers and one more is also in the offing. Surprisingly she even undertook that more Court Martials will be pursued once the report of the ICOE- Independent Commission of Enquiry submits its proposal that is expected in a few days..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Eurasia Review"
2019-12-24
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-12
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Sub-title: Rohingya rebels who had been holding him for weeks said he died during military attacks on Christmas Day
Description: "An official from Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party was killed in Rakhine state after planning a show of support for the leader’s defense of Myanmar against genocide allegations at The Hague, a spokesman said Thursday. The National League for Democracy’s Ye Thein, party chairman in Buthidaung township, had been held for weeks by the Arakan Army, insurgents fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists. The rebels said he was killed in military attacks on Christmas Day but the claim could not be verified and NLD spokesman Myo Nyunt said the group bore responsibility. Ye Thein was detained on December 11 ahead of demonstrations backing Suu Kyi’s high-profile opening statements at the UN’s top court the same day. “We, all members of NLD, are very sorry for the loss,” Myo Nyunt told AFP. “His gathering to support her was righteous and it was not a crime.” The Arakan Army has carried out a series of daring kidnappings, bombings and raids against the army and local officials in Rakhine state. Myanmar’s military has hit back hard, deploying thousands of additional soldiers to the western state and carrying out what Amnesty International called enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial executions..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2019-12-26
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "While Myanmar’s state counselor and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi focused her energies last month on personally defending her country’s appalling human-rights record in The Hague, bewildering ever more erstwhile supporters for papering over atrocities, “Rape as a Weapon of War and the Women Who Are Resisting: A Special Report” recently released by the Free Burma Rangers (FBR) reflects a more accurate portrayal of the true nature of the ethnic conflict embroiling the long-troubled country. “Sexual violence has become a hallmark of the prolonged civil conflict and an indisputable tactic of the Burma Army against ethnic women,” the report states. “After several failed domestic and international agreements, the Burma Army continues to rape with impunity, but women across the ethnic states are tired of living in fear.” Working with local ethnic pro-democracy groups, FBR trains, supplies, and later coordinates with teams providing humanitarian relief. After training, these teams provide essential emergency medical services, basic necessities and human-rights documentation in their home regions..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2020-01-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Myitsone dam, Belt and Road Initiative, Aung San Suu Kyi, Xi Jinping, Kachin, Myanmar, China
Topic: Myitsone dam, Belt and Road Initiative, Aung San Suu Kyi, Xi Jinping, Kachin, Myanmar, China
Description: "Myanmar leader, Aung San Suu Kyi made a rare trip to a region bordering China days before President Xi Jinping is expected to push for controversial port and dam projects during a visit to the country. Wearing traditional ethnic attire, Suu Kyi danced with a street procession on Friday in northern Kachin state's capital Myitkyina, a day after supporters cheered her arrival at the airport. She urged a crowd of thousands to "focus on the present" and called for peace in the remote region, where insurgents have clashed with the army over autonomy and resources. She did not mention the China-backed Myitsone dam, a US$3.6 billion project halted in 2011 in the face of widespread opposition. A proposal to reinstate the dam drew thousands of protesters onto the streets last year. Myanmar is a vital piece of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Xi's US$1 trillion vision for maritime, rail and road projects across Asia, Africa and Europe. During his two-day visit to the country starting 17 January, Xi and top Myanmar political and military leaders are expected to discuss the initiative, according to a Friday briefing by China's Vice Foreign Minister, Luo Zhaohui..."
Source/publisher: "The ASEAN Post" (Malaysia)
2020-01-11
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi called on all signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) to take responsibility and accountability in implementing the pact, saying its principles apply equally to all stakeholders. She made the comments on Wednesday at the resumption of the long-awaited Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting (JICM) in Naypyitaw, at which she was joined by military representatives led by deputy army chief Vice Senior General Soe Win, and ethnic representatives led by Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) chairman General Yawd Serk. The JICM is considered a gateway to resuming the formal peace process, which has been stalled for more than a year since two NCA signatories suspended their participation. The Karen National Union decided to temporarily suspend its participation in formal peace negotiations in October 2018 and the RCSS withdrew from the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) on the NCA the following month..."
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Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2020-01-08
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On Dec 11, Myanmar's State Counsellor-cum-Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi stood at the podium of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague and defended her country against the accusation of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention over the military's clearance operations in northern Rakhine state, which caused more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee the Southeast Asian country for Bangladesh. On behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries, Gambia filed a case at the ICJ to order for"provisional measures to "protect and preserve the rights" of the Rohingya minority. The ICJ's ruling can possibly have two outcomes. If the ruling goes in favour of Gambia, there may be a new wave of violence targeting not only the Rohingya, but the larger Muslim population in Myanmar. And if the court dismisses the case, it may provoke anger among the Rohingya and their supporters across the globe -- including the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.The legal process has triggered global attention and understandably it also divides the international community largely into two groups -- those who support Ms Suu Kyi and others who criticise or condemn her. Among others, those who criticise Ms Suu Kyi have argued that she has transformed herself from an international democratic icon and a champion of human rights to a denier of genocidal acts..."
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Source/publisher: "Bangkok Post" (Thailand)
2020-01-06
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Myanmar nominal leader’s defense of Rohingya crackdown at ICJ boosts her re-election chances
Description: "To much of the world, Myanmar’s nominal leader Aung San Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate turned genocide denier. At home, she is seen as a heroine who went to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to defend and uphold her country’s honor, though not necessarily in defense of the powerful military with which she has been at loggerheads for years. The case brought to the ICJ by Gambia “to protect and preserve the rights” of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority under the United Nations Genocide Convention will likely be a drawn-out and inconclusive legal process. That’s in part because all five permanent members of the UN’s Security Council may veto the enforcement of any verdict, which Myanmar allies China and Russia will likely do. Neither is an investigation ordered by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November into alleged “crimes against humanity” committed during a Myanmar army campaign against the Rohingyas in 2017, which killed thousands and forced hundreds of thousands to flee across the border into neighboring Bangladesh, expected to succeed in prosecuting the perpetrators..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2019-12-20
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: After decades and decades of iron-fisted rule by one of the most repressive military regimes the world has ever seen, its people deserve better. At least, Justice, accountability, truth, and national reconciliation are aspirations that many have fought and died for many years. Myanmar cannot lose sight of them.
Description: "As 2019 draws to a close, with no positive progress on the situation of human rights, Myanmar[1] has drawn international attention regarding allegations of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for crimes committed against the Rohingya. However, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s decision to represent the country as the Agent at the ICJ court proceedings in the Hague in defense of “the national interest”, has caused and continues to cause deep divisions amongst diverse people of Myanmar inside and outside of the country. Meanwhile in Rakhine State, clashes between the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar military has displaced more than 5,800 people in one week while in some parts of Rakhine State people are still unable to access the internet, making it six months since it was shut down by the government. On Saturyday, twenty civil society organizations in Myanmar issued a joint statement – initiated by Free Expression Myanmar and joined by others including Progressive Voice – condemning this continued shut down of internet access in parts of Rakhine State. In her capacity as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi took the stand at the ICJ over the course of 10 – 12 December 2019 as the Agent of Myanmar. Although she denied the genocidal intent of the crimes, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi admitted at the world court that atrocity crimes have been committed by the Myanmar military. In her statement she admitted that “it cannot be ruled out that disproportionate force was used by members of the Defence Services in some cases in disregard of international humanitarian law.” The Myanmar military can no longer hide its brutal human rights violations against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities. However, what is troubling is that a number of public rallies were held across the country in support of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi without a clear understanding of the public hearings at the Hague. The Myanmar military and the National League for Democracy government has taken advantage of this lack of clarity, falsely claiming that the people of Myanmar are on trial, rather than the State, for violating the Genocide Convention. Therefore, many of those who gather at the rallies in support of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi believe that they have a duty to support their leader for “defending the country.”..."
Source/publisher: "Progressive Voice" (Thailand)
2019-12-22
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Recent atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims were business as usual for Myanmar’s war-hardened army
Description: "In her defense of Myanmar against charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague last week, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi was at pains to stress the complexity of the ethnic conflict in Rakhine state and her country’s stumbling efforts to implement its own process of accountability and military justice. As Myanmar’s de facto political leader and foreign minister, she was clearly hobbled by her inability to articulate what would have been a far more persuasive line of argument: the 2017 atrocities perpetrated on the Rohingya Muslims of Rakhine were hardly an exceptional campaign of genocide, but rather what for the Myanmar Army, or Tatmadaw, was simply business as usual – in military jargon “standard operating procedure” (SOP) – that has not normally garnered international attention, let alone global outrage. The sickening specifics of the Tatmadaw’s SOP in Rakhine have been spelled out in voluminous reports from a United Nations (UN) Fact Finding Mission and leading international human rights organizations. Some were again recounted by lawyers for the Gambia, which lodged the accusation of genocide with the court..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2019-12-17
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Aung San Suu Kyi, Asia migrant crisis, International Court of Justice, Myanmar, Rohingya
Topic: Aung San Suu Kyi, Asia migrant crisis, International Court of Justice, Myanmar, Rohingya
Description: "The UN resolution passed on Friday expressed alarm at the continuing influx of Rohingya to Bangladesh over the past four decades "in the aftermath of atrocities committed by the security and armed forces of Myanmar". It highlighted the findings of an independent international mission "of gross human rights violations and abuses suffered by Rohingya Muslims and other minorities" by Myanmar's security forces, which the mission described as "the gravest crimes under international law". The resolution called on Myanmar to protect all groups and to ensure justice for all violations of human rights. It was passed by a total of 134 countries in the 193-member world body, with nine votes against and 28 abstaining. UN General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but can reflect world opinion. The UN ambassador for Myanmar, Hau Do Suan, called the resolution "another classic example of double-standards [and] selective and discriminatory application of human rights norms". He said it was designed to exert "unwanted political pressure" on Myanmar and did not attempt to find a solution to "the complex situation in Rakhine state"..."
Source/publisher: "BBC News" (London)
2019-12-28
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: 2020 elections will show how much damage has been done to leader’s reputation as a democratic reformer
Description: "A new huge billboard recently erected at a major intersection in Myanmar’s commercial capital of Yangon portrays the nation’s nominal leader with a message of support: “We stand with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.” Such billboards are not unique in Myanmar and appeared well before Suu Kyi headed to The Hague’s International Court of Justice in December to defend her nation against charges of genocide, a stand that was widely panned by foreign media but cheered by nationalist groups at home. But the new signboard’s existence and message are noteworthy all the same. “Five years ago, it would not have been necessary,” says a local community worker who requested anonymity. “Then everybody in Yangon supported her and no-one had to be reminded of that.”..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2019-12-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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