Burma’s military junta has imposed martial law in 37 townships in eight provinces where it is facing the most opposition from resistance groups, a day after it extended a state of emergency to coincide with the second anniversary of the coup.
As fighting has intensified in resistance strongholds in recent months, including the regional capitals of Loikaw (east) and Hakha (west), authorities have extended strict restrictions affecting millions of people in more than eleven percent of the country’s 330 municipalities.
Martial law means that pro-democracy supporters in the Sagaing, Magway, Bago and Tanintharyi regions, as well as in the ethnic states of Chin, Kayah, Kayin and Mon, will face more checkpoints, interrogations and curfews, deepening the lack of freedoms that has prevailed for the past two years.
Military courts will try most criminal cases in the townships themselves and no appeals of verdicts will be allowed, according to statements by military authorities, reports Bloomberg.
This week, the military junta extended the state of emergency declared after the military coup for another six months, two years after the coup. Since then, some 13,800 people remain under arrest and nearly 2,950 have died as a result of the repression, according to the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners (AAPP).
On the occasion of the second anniversary of the military uprising, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have announced new sanctions against individuals and companies for their involvement with the Burmese military authorities.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
