Amnesty International has repudiated the new seven-year prison sentence issued Friday against activist Aung San Suu Kyi by Burma’s military coup authorities, bringing to 33 the number of years the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former ‘de facto’ leader of the country will have to spend in prison due to previous sentences issued by the military following the February 2021 uprising.
Suu Kyi and former Burmese President Win Myint have been convicted in a case related to the leasing and purchase of helicopters for use in disaster management, although the allegations are unclear because lawyers are barred from discussing the proceedings.
All of these convictions are, in the view of Amnesty’s Asia director Meg de Ronde, «rigged trials» for «political motives» as well as «unfair and lacking the slightest hint of transparency», a criticism she extends to the charges brought by the military against «the thousands of others languishing behind bars in the country’s notorious prisons and interrogation centers».
«Burma’s military has turned the court and prison system into a human rights hellhole in which journalists, activists, politicians, doctors, protesters and many others are imprisoned solely for peacefully expressing dissent.»
«The fact that this verdict came less than 10 days after a rare UN Security Council admonition demanding an end to the violence and the release of prisoners being held arbitrarily demonstrates that even greater pressure needs to be applied urgently against the Burmese military,» according to the NGO.
That is why «the UN Security Council must impose a comprehensive arms embargo, including on aviation fuel, and targeted sanctions on the military leadership,» the spokeswoman adds.
The coup was perpetrated by the army to annul the results of the November 2020 general elections, in which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won the parliamentary majority, arguing that there had been fraud, a claim questioned by international observers.
The uprising was followed by a harsh crackdown on opponents, activists and protesters that has so far resulted in nearly 2,700 deaths and more than 16,600 detainees – including more than 13,100 who remain in custody – according to data published by the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners (AAPP) through its Twitter account.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
