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Human Rights Situation in Myanmar: Post-Coup (29 November – 5 December) 2021

December 6, 2021/in HR Situation

Ten months have now passed since the attempted coup in Myanmar. In the time that has elapsed, horrifying rights abuses have been perpetrated against local people who have exemplified a spirited resistance to the junta. The regime is armed with weapons and uses force as a fear mongering tactic. Civilians have what the military lacks […]

Junta sentences Suu Kyi, Win Myint to four years in prison each

December 6, 2021/in News

Rights groups condemned the rulings as a ‘travesty of justice’ A Naypyitaw court on Monday sentenced detained leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint to four years in prison on charges of incitement and breaking Covid-19 regulations, according to court sources. They were the first verdicts handed down to the ousted State Counsellor and […]

Human Rights Situation in Myanmar: Post-Coup (29 November – 5 December) 2021

December 6, 2021/in HR Situation

Junta sentences Suu Kyi, Win Myint to four years in prison each

December 6, 2021/in News

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Human Rights Situation in Myanmar: Post-Coup (29 November – 5 December) 2021

December 6, 2021/in HR Situation

The National Unity Government (NUG), a government of and for the people, has been offering the international community multiple pathways for dialogue and interaction, as to not legitimize or recognize the illegal junta. At the United Nations, civil society organizations, alongside the NUG, have been vocal in their demands that a junta representative must not be granted a seat. Over the last week, the nine member Credentials Committee of the General Assembly, which is the body responsible for approving UN representatives, decided to refer a decision on who will be selected to speak for Myanmar, as well as Afghanistan. This in effect means that U Kyaw Moe Tun, who was appointed by the National League for Democracy (NLD), will continue to be the permanent representative for the time being. This step was welcomed by the NUG, though the military junta not surprisingly criticized the UN for denying its envoy.

Pressure on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to not recognize the junta remains. Cambodia will become the chairman of ASEAN beginning in 2022. Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, invited the junta appointed foreign minister, Wunna Maung Lwin to a meeting in the next week. The decision has spurred suspicions that Cambodia will not take a hardline against Myanmar’s assaults and violent suppression of human rights in the country. A new report released by the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) found that of the ‘dramatic rise’ in attacks against opposition Members of Parliament, those in Myanmar were the worst and were an ‘example of a wider trend of closing democratic space in the region.’ The NLD’s Central Working Committee reported that over 570 NLD party members have been detained since February. Only 128 of those detained have been released, and 432 remain in custody.

The urgency for the international community to intervene with concrete action such as targeted sanctions and a global arms embargo is growing every day.

CHIN STATE

According to the Chin Human Rights Organization, over 200 more homes were destroyed over the course of five days between 25 and 29 November. More than 473 structures have been intentionally destroyed by the military junta in Thantlang. Satellite tools and mapping resources by Human Rights Watch detected several thermal anomalies over Thantlang, Chin State, on at least 10 different dates in the past month, during the day and at night. Evidence suggests these fires were deliberately set by the military junta. Photos circulated online showed the mountainous town disappearing as homes, villages and land are being intentionally burnt to the ground.

Religious freedoms, freedom of mobility and the right to safety, shelter and protection are all being undermined as the junta commits war crimes with impunity.

KACHIN STATE

In Kachin State, the presence of the military junta is continuing to undermine civilian safety. An IDP camp and church in Momauk, Kachin State, was damaged after it was shelled by the military junta. More human rights violations followed, with thirty civilians being abducted to be used as human shields while soldiers patrolled the town. Locals were taken from the market, schools and hospitals to guide the junta. Women and children were among those in the regime’s custody. All detainees were released later in the evening.

Bomb blasts in recent days in Kachin State have led to injuries. At a high school in Hpakant, six people were hurt when a school bus struck a landmine. Very few students have dared return to school as instability wreaks havoc in the region and sparks fears. Soldiers have also taken to patrolling classrooms.

On 30 November, the Kachin Independence Army ambushed a junta convoy with a landmine in Mohnyin Township, Kachin State. In retaliation for the at least seven soldiers killed in the attack, the junta launched an artillery attack and shelled a local village. Three homes were damaged and livestock was killed by the shells.

SAGAING REGION

Over 30,000 residents from 15 villages in Sagaing region were forced to flee airstrikes fired by the military junta. Five helicopters by the regime were used to send additional soldiers to fight the local People’s Defence Forces (PDF). The attack was in retaliation for heavy casualties faced by the junta. Witnesses recalled the helicopters firing ‘at anyone they could see.’

Soldiers also set fire to 20 homes and two barns in Kalay Township. The junta targeted homes that they believed had occupants with ties to the PDF.

An additional five displaced civilians were killed by the junta as soldiers raided villages and refugee camps in Gangaw township, where hundreds of troops have been deployed. A series of serious human rights violations are being deployed including torture, sexual harassment and arson. The increasing military presence has been devastating for innocent people caught in the crossfire. An arms embargo must be immediately enforced.

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Junta sentences Suu Kyi, Win Myint to four years in prison each

December 6, 2021/in News

Rights groups condemned the rulings as a ‘travesty of justice’

A Naypyitaw court on Monday sentenced detained leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint to four years in prison on charges of incitement and breaking Covid-19 regulations, according to court sources.

They were the first verdicts handed down to the ousted State Counsellor and President after months of hearings.

Each leader received two years in prison for inciting public unrest under Section 505b of the Penal Code, a charge relating to two statements denouncing the junta released by the National League for Democracy (NLD) after the February 1 coup.

They received another two years under Section 25 of the Natural Disaster Management Law based on the charge they violated Covid-19 restrictions during last year’s election campaign.

Ousted Naypyitaw Mayor Myo Aung also received a two-year sentence for incitement for the two NLD statements at Monday’s hearing, where judge Maung Maung Lwin presided.

Closed-door hearings for Suu Kyi, 76, and Win Myint, 70, have been held at a specially designated court in Zabuthiri Township for the past several months.

The two have been kept at undisclosed locations.

It is unclear if Suu Kyi and the two other defendants will be moved to prison now that they have been sentenced.

Aung San Suu Kyi, Win Myint, and first lady Cho Cho at the presidential residence in 2018 (Ministry of Information)

Indian Myanmar's pro-democracy activists and Myanmar refugees living in India hold posters and placards as they participate in a protest against the Myanmar coup in New Delhi, India on March 3 (EPA)

The regime has barred all five of Suu Kyi’s lawyers from speaking publicly about her case, saying that it could create “a disturbance of the public tranquility.”

Monday’s rulings were “illegal” and were part of the junta’s attempt to cover up its own crimes, said Thein Oo, the justice minister of the shadow National Unity Government (NUG).

“All of the coup regime’s charges concerning political matters were void since the beginning and thus the rulings of the courts on those charges are absolutely illegal,” Thein Oo told Myanmar Now.

The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) pressure group called the ruling a “travesty of justice.”

“No one is fooled by today’s sentencing,” said Charles Santiago, the group’s chair.

“Since the day of the coup, it’s been clear that the charges against Aung San Suu Kyi, and the dozens of other detained MPs, have been nothing more than an excuse by the junta to justify their illegal power grab,” he said in a statement.

The ruling also showed “continuing contempt” for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the five-point consensus the bloc reached with the junta earlier this year, he said.

“One of the agreed points is for constructive dialogue among all parties concerned, but instead, the junta is keeping one of the parties in jail,” said Santiago.

He called upon ASEAN to hold the line against the “illegal” military takeover and engage with the NUG.

“We continue our call for ASEAN to ban all junta representatives from its meetings [and] prevent junta generals from travelling in the region,” he said.

Suu Kyi faces a total sentence of several decades under ten other charges, including six for corruption. She has denied all of the charges.

State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi is seen surrounded by military leader on March 30, 2018, the day that Win Myint was inaugurated as president (President’s Office website)

Suu Kyi hit with new corruption charge

The ousted state counsellor now stands accused of six counts of corruption, in addition to six other offenses

The latest corruption charge relates to the rental of a helicopter by Dr Win Myat Aye, the former minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement.

The helicopter, which was rented for disaster management purposes, was allegedly improperly used with the approval of Suu Kyi and Win Myint, who has also been charged in connection with the case.

The junta announced earlier this month that it plans to prosecute 16 people for electoral fraud, including Suu Kyi, Win Myint, Myo Aung, and detained NLD vice chair Zaw Myint Maung.

Myanmar Now News

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ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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