BURMA 1

'

(vol. . www.article2.org t also domestic law. and then those from AHRC‐SPR‐009‐2008 u

also took on impromptu relief encing of persons involved in last nships. The situation even became so ept through lower Burma on 2 and 3 charade of a referendum on a new ves. In Rangoon residents and monks d was a manmade disaster, through the ssist, local people, y. Government officials were instructed leaders and international organisations areas of the delta region and took with it ry’s military regime to the andscape in Burma during 2008 were the ta, thousands of homeless people gathered s military regime responded in the only way al people who tried to help. of water, basic food and health care, not to The effect of this response was to duplicate the tinue their work to prepare for a constitutional O A NATURAL DISASTER

rma publishedrma by the sister organisation of the AsianHuman

BURMA ‐ 2008 tponed by two weeks in some tow ar beyond the standards of not only international b rmed and prepared; what followe assistance from monks, many of whom r and other essentials. In the del

gross repression and violence. ht of the storm victims and con commission

e protests f WORLD’S WORST RESPONSE T rights

THE STATE OF IN human INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2008 ‐ BURMA asian A DOUBLE‐DISASTER IN THE 2007 PROTESTS’ AFTERMATH eneral but he was refusing to receive them. nconscionable denial of large‐scale aid and persecution of loc Rights Commission, Asian Legal the Resource Centre, in the September2008 edition periodical, quarterlyof its article 2

This report consists of extracts from a special study on Bu May 2008, bringing in its wake a tidal wave that submerged vast what will ultimately be an untold number of lives, the country’ that it knows fit, with further cleared roads and shared wate at monasteries and received from: full in downloaded be can demented’, law imprisoned, Revolution ‘Saffron study, That 3). no. 6, The world was stunned when in the weeks after Cyclone Nargis sw

Perhaps the two most significant features of the human rights l Not only did the generals deliberately avoid contact with world

morally bankrupt and blatantly repressive response of the count disaster in May, and the continued detaining, charging and sent September’s nationwid u desperate to offer assistance to the millions left in dire need mention longer‐term relief, but they constitution also designed forged to extend ahead their with grip the on specifically to neglect the plig power indefinitel

massive tragedy: in the first instance came the natural disaster, which could have been mitigated had the people of Burma been better‐info further away the worst affected areas, began organising themsel Realising that the government was not going to do anything to a

referendum, which was merely pos absurd that the Secretary General of the United Nations was making phone calls to head of state Senior G BURMA

2 ”, an in ent t of the 00 of of the ey said hey just nd with uated in AHRC‐SPR‐009‐2008 local well‐wishers soon beg

to comedian ’s house in leadership and a determination from egree of international assistance was ies from Qatar to be returned to the ted by For the most part, the response of the paltry by comparison to the scale of the rsons, a nationally renowned comedian, oters Group, U . recovered a computer, some VCDs rged. Among them have been young men when on May 9 it seized the World Food g up the slack left by the lack of either Thailand, demonstrated that some small hock to a WFP spokesman that he rightly forts”. ated and inconsistent, despite the enormity r to make up for the shortfall of supplies , they failed the people of Burma. Had the equate and uncoordinated reactions belittled hands of the generals. t through were arian relief ef

oney for the cyclone relief effort. persistent needless obstacles. ptive superpowers shown strong the local council chairman came Burma) and the wedding video of the junta leader’s daughter, th meaning “around a couple of days”. They also took around USD 10 wanted to search it. After they cyclone damage as well as the new Rambo movie (the story is sit that they would also take Zarganar with them “for a short while June. According Commission (AHRC) pieced together from a number of sources, around to information seven police led by the Rangoon Western District police chief a that the Asian Human Rangoon just before 8pm on June 4 and went inside saying that t Rights m lead in relief efforts among members of the arts and entertainm industry, had his house searched and was taken away at the star Zarganar (a.k.a. Ko Thura), a famous comedian in Burma who took support that go and police checkpoints in orde n modern humanit

ms and left everything in the commission

rights

human arganar Z ating roles. Convoys of vehicles crammed with items dona INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2008 ‐ BURMA asian escribed it as “unprecedented i arganar, and the leader of the Human Rights Defenders and Prom he disaster as well as its victi he absence of official aid.

Emissaries who visited the country, like the prime minister of Persons involved in promoting the domestic relief effort, takin

running the gauntlet of military d gains could be made, and some concessions were obtained and a dallowed. However, the amounts of t international or government aid, have themselves since been cha who assisted in cremating and burying the bodies of deceased pe Z coordin disaster and were accompanied by The regime went beyond being obstinate to outright criminality

t Programme’s supplies in Rangoon and forced a planeload country of origin. The taking of the supplies came as such as s of suppl the start then things could have been different. But their inad Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China and India was bel of the tragedy unfolding right on their doorsteps. Collectively association and these two presum BURMA 3

to lso Aye

Myint

U AHRC‐SPR‐009‐2008 ad given numerous interviews

ivision Police (intelligence), Special ests, charged with violating section g the since the cyclone struck. Following f their cyclone relief work. A group of the work. He had organised over 400 d the needs of the people. He had a many cyclone survivors didn’t want the insult religion), and under the Illegal ternoon, Human Rights Defenders and Promoters overseas‐ of the two were not informed that they p came to l been charged with seven offences under y 7, and h council official. nstead had worry and icating that r why. he told one or the cyclone victims and had sold his and thin the for the first time and like this they ightened and that they might get sent away in

d over the September 2007 prot other media about his work an Electronic Transactions Law. y assistance. After a few days place of worship with intent to e delta and begun reporting to lief efforts also were halted. commission

ing constantly on cyclone relief since Ma rights

human r had been work INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2008 ‐ BURMA asian ssociations Law, Video Law and ranch personnel, the chairman of the ward council and another id not give any details about where they had taken Myint Aye o arganar’s arrest, the group’s re rder to make the temporary resettlement camps look good for the VIPs. According to Zarganar’s sister, he had used all his own money f

o his wife’s mobile phones (which are expensive in Burma) to volunteers fund to work in some 42 villages that had been neglected At the end of July, Zarganar and former sports magazine editor Zaw Thet Htwe, who had also been working hard for cyclone victims, were brought into the closed court wi

Z like so many of the people accuse gone promptly to the worst‐affected areas and was by May 6 amon first people to haver reached th based media about the lack of an Thailand‐based group that

Although Myint Aye’s house was itself damaged in the storm he i

overseas‐based radio stations and ridiculed state media reports about the cyclone aftermath and Irrawaddy News service published on May 21, Zarganar said that in an interview with the Thailand‐based UN Secretary General to visit for fear that security would be t Zargana d Myint Aye did not come back that night as promised. The next af

B another team led by the chief of police in Kyimyindaing Townshi the house and asked for some sets of clothes for Myint Aye, ind he would be detained for some time. They told his family not to to ask for any help if they need it; however, as in other cases (HRDP) group were in early August taken away as a consequence o police and officials came to Myint Aye’s house at around 4pm on 8 August 2008 and after searching it for over two hours and taking some documents and other items they told Myint Aye to go with them for a short while. The group included Police Captain Kyaw Sein of Rangoon D Similarly, 57‐year‐old U Myint Aye and two other members of the

A 505(b) of the Penal Code for causing public alarm. The families would be brought on that date and charged. Zarganar has in tota section 505(b), 295 (defiling a BURMA 4 risonment for illegal AHRC‐SPR‐009‐2008

orced to participate in their own oad for that purpose. These charges rt, the defining characteristic of the ficial sites, from a technical training he HRDP group. Myo Min, who lives cluding Burma’s own law. State‐run own around the world as the Saffron on August 7. The arrests coincided with esses admitting that they know nothing ed nuns and monks who are accused of nsistent with the handling of the protests ced to three years’ imp ring to people being “brought, investigated sed doors, with charges brought under one urma in response to a dramatic and sudden ibuted as much rice grain as we can. HRDP 505(b), sentenced to 22 years in prison; Ko ave been ordered to come and present them, rt on human rights in Burma. one (victim) by one. We’d get trampled by the ne place where they were not held was a police

ty by all standards of law, in nd for receiving money from abr arrests as such, instead refer IMPRISONED esiding in Pyi Township, senten ittle at a time like that. tors to the absurd charade. commission

rights

human INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2008 ‐ BURMA asian istributed over 70 bags a l nd judges sitting as specta uition. he visit to the country of the new United Nations special expe

t

increase in fuel price rises on 15 August Revolution, the 2007, cases which of became hundreds kn of people and forcibly having had key involvement in the rallies have been winding their way through the country’s courts. The disrob cases are, as in the manner of the crackdown itself, characterised by patent illegality and often are little more than an exercise in nonsense, where the courts are being f debasement and caricature. The trials are being held behind clo section of law and changed to another, without investigating officers being able to bring any evidence or even say when or where an alleged offence occurred, police witn about the cases that they are presenting other than that they h In the year since the nationwide monk‐led protests that shook B In September, it was reported in the state‐run media that Myint Aye is to be charged with allegedly organising bombings in Rangoon a

Bogalay residents have taken charge. We can’t distribute it to crowds. We give three bags of rice to a monastery to cook, the next day, another three bags. So far we’ve Myint Aye’s detention followed that of another nearby, was taken on August 6 and Ko Thant Zaw Myint was taken two members of t t members have already been arrested appear aimed at destroying the work of the HRDP, many of whose and imprisoned in the last two to three years. They include Ko Thiha, who has been convicted of sedition (Penal Code section 124A) and upsetting public tranquility, sn. , 40, Ko Kyaw Lwin, 40, U Hla Shein, 62, U Mya Sein, 50, U Win, 50, and U Myint, 59, the “Hinthada 6”, sentenced to four to eight years for upsetting public tranquility [Penal Code section 505(b)(c)] and Ko Min Min, 30, r The refugees’ suffering here is great. We have bought and distr d themselves. As the AHRC described in its 2007 human rights repo crackdown was its patent illegali and questioned”. Accused persons were abducted and held institute, to an old racetrack, to the military dog pens. The o in unof The handling and movement of the cases through the courts is co

a newspapers did not even describe BURMA y 5 d to be d with rs of a own on cards, a found in ngoon at they were her with ten rge, warrant entral prison AHRC‐SPR‐009‐2008 rdinary law was introduced

re in the presence of the council ‐organised mass group, allegedl th having illegal arms, although the , which requires that the police wyer unsuccessfully appealed at the fore a court until December 20; during 2400) from a single bailor. Then, on fore a judge within 24 hours. Nor have Cross, which has been unable to obtain ersonal items, they tied her hands behind s not. On November 1 two police officers put against her was not as the police had had contact with overseas radio stations to en involved in making a student union. She sonal safety of others” (Penal Code sn. 336). having its representatives attend interviews s amount was far more than the amount that l on health and legal grounds. ommittee’s charter.

on of emergency or any other extrao ave outside of the ordinary law ey Oo, who is accused of having endanger human life or the per small amount of money and some p her back and took her to the town hall. There she was put toget men who were unknown to her and then they were each photographe was sent to a their bags. When Khin Sanda Win refused to sign, one of the menclothes hit her on the head with a bamboo rod. That night, she in plain special interrogation centre and she was kept there without cha or otherwise until October 7, when she was transferred to the c For instance, a group of men in plain clothes, apparently membe protestors. They searched her and although she only had her ID various weapons, including knives, slingshots and pellets. Then allegedly forced to sign confessions that the weapons had been government gang and a government around 10am on 29 September 2007 during the military‐led crackd stopped Khin Sanda Win, a 23‐year‐old university student, in Ra commission

rights

h she was released. Win

human Sanda

even though no declarati INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2008 ‐ BURMA asian Khin etween ICRC staff and its charges, which is in breach of the c ctivities, after whic ubdivisional and divisional courts to have her released on bai

Then there is the case of Ma Hon s Although it seemed like Khin Sanda Win’s ordeal was over, it wa came to her house and informed her that she would be charged wi “arms” they claimed to have found were a slingshot and some pellets, which do not violate the law. When Khin Sanda Win went to court the next day, the charge that was indicated but instead acting “to This is a charge for which the accused can get bail. But when her lawyer applied, the judge set bail at five million kyat (USD 4000) from two separate bailors. In fact, thi they judge could legally set, which is three million kyat (USD November 12 the judge, without any request from the police, unilaterally revoked the bail on the absurd grounds of Khin Sanda Win being a threat relates to the “disturbances” of September. Khin Sanda Win’s la to security forces personnel because the charge against her give out information at the time of the protests, and having be was taken into custody on 9 October 2007 but was not brought be those more than two months she was held illegally without charge at the central prison. The police accuse a authorise the authorities to custodians beh of criminal detainees, and that anyone be brought prisoners be had access to the International Committee of the access to facilities in Burma since the government insisted on Red station,

b and held there, again without charge, warrant or any other legal order until October 25, when she was sent to the Hlaing Township Peace and Development Council office whe chairman and her parents she was told to sign a pledge that she would not take part in any anti‐state BURMA y 6

on of Oo

AHRC‐SPR‐009‐2008 Honey

Ma eign media by telephone and

lice No. La/155953) said that on and couldn’t have been on the road of the exam was the same as she was editious behaviour but when asked to t when the lawyer challenged him, he ated. The lawyer also asked the officer if h sspoe oke eodo n he is supposed to keep a record of an or Hla Thein replied that he didn’t know ntify the time of her involvement in the asked him if he knew that the accused had ed with obstructing a public thoroughfare. road from Mingalar Market to Natmauk

he case brought against his client that could rt ut

Finally, on the charge of sedition, the defence

now how she had been interrog ss‐examination said that the among the list of witnesses in overseas media was from a commission

rights

human o of having been involved in a student union, having talked to for INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2008 ‐ BURMA asian 5‐6 September 2007. xplain the section to the court he admitted that he could not.

The chief of the Tamwe Township police, Inspector Hla Thein (Po

e December 10 he received four interrogation records of Honey Oo from Sub‐Inspector Hla Htun, SB, which he submitted to the court as evidence. When the defence lawyer been interrogated “under duress” the police chief denied it, bu admitted that he didn’t actually k having participated in protests at the Yuzana Plaza and on the he didn’t know that Honey Oo was taking an exam on September 25 waving a flag as the eyewitnesses had purportedly said, Inspect this but maybe she had gone before she went to the exam, although he also didn’t know what time she might have had the exam. When told by the lawyer that the time supposed to have been on the road and therefore the eyewitnesses must be lying, the police chief denied it and said that it must just be a matter of not being able to ide protests exactly. The chief also claimed fantastic ignorance of basic criminal procedure, denying knowledge that the Evidence Act prohibits forced confession and also that Honey O information they had that Honey Oo was part of the group accused of having contact with reliable source, but he could not divulge the source to the cou In court the police could not produce any evidence to support any of their claims against Ma Honey Oo and on showed ignorance the contrary and confusion about the laws under which she had been Inspector Soe brought. Moe Aung, The in cro investigating detective, Sub‐

2 and the source was not included the case. He had no evidence to present to the court other than the supposed confession of the accused. Nor could he produce any photographs or other evidence that Honey Oo was in the protests as he had claimed in the charges against only her, saying that acknowledged that it was the responsibility of the police to eyewitnesses take photographs and bring enough evidence with which to had seen support the case. On her, the presented against Honey Oo was that she had gone for English other hand, although among the “evidence” lessons at the American Center library, about which the he defence lawyer asked if it was a crime to learn English; the officer replied that he just collected and gave information abo her and it wasn’t for him to decide if it was relevant or not. lawyer pointed out to the policeman that there was nothing in t meet the elements of this charge and at most she could be charg Sub‐Inspector Soe Moe Aung replied that the protests included s BURMA e e 7 as ey to ing and was of this contact oup, has AHRC‐SPR‐009‐2008 he did. Finally, coming back

at the fuel price hikes, for which he as lead guitarist in a rock gr and the road in front of the Tamwe e. He also acknowledged that he didn’t sein Prison without charge. When the thout properly understanding it, Sub‐ over two months before the case was titute a strong case, the officer replied, nothing to do with him and that he was to do so. to rally on the road. Again, neither he nor sking him about this. Again, the police had ecember 17, so that when the lawyer asked tained through torture, which they denied. all, and the inspector inadvertently denied cases they [are]” but asked to explain to the d that he was not involved in the case for the yer asked the police chief if he knew that th had been illegal. The lawyer observed though, ook as he said

Market and marching in protest imprisoned previously for seven years under emergency regulations from 1996 to 2002 for performing with overseas media, so by Win Maw sending the news to DVB he w not doing anything wrong: only if the police accuse him of send Then there is the case of Win Maw, who was arrested and charged by Special Branch police with having upset during the August and September protests he sent news by phone public tranquility because email and took photographs for the Norway‐based Democratic Voic of Burma (DVB) radio, together with an assistant. Win Maw, who been accused of sending false news abroad in order to damage th public well‐being. The reason that the police have accused him offence is that it is not illegal for a person in Burma to have hout the defence lawyer even a to the court, the defence law

inspector replied that “in some commission

rights

human ation in his station’s Daily Diary, not in a personal b INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2008 ‐ BURMA asian pened, he replied, “I don’t know.” ourt which cases these would be he admitted that he was unable That’s not so.”

the submitting of the confessions were inadmissible, to which the investig

“ was also held for over three months without remand and charged with sedition by the same police as in Honey Oo’s case. Again the police laid the charge apparently wi Inspector Soe Moe Aung admitting that the decision to do so had working was “under instructions” from somewhere and someone els know whether or not there is even a law for obtaining a permit Inspector Hla Thein had any evidence to present to the court at having made an illegal arrest wit presented an inadmissible confession to the court, allegedly ob Finally, in response to the lawyer’s question about whether the policeman understood or not that in the absence of other evidence witness testimonies alone do not cons Importantly, Honey Oo was first detained on 9 October 2007; however, she was not put in remand until December 20, during which time she was held in Building 3 of In At the same time that the case was brought against Honey Oo another under section 124A was brought against a 20‐year‐old man named Aung Min Naing, who was detained on September 7 and accused of joining around 50 persons on August 23 and going to Tamwe Plaza c defence lawyer asked the police chief about this, he simply sai period of alleged illegal detention, but denied anyhow that it and the policeman agreed, that she had not been charged until D the officer to confirm that Honey Oo was arrested and held for Temporary Market and Kyaukmyaung o BURMA 8

urt, like other AHRC‐SPR‐009‐2008 nothing.

e search as required by the Criminal ced any false news. The absence of s’ abroad (Felony Case No. 112/2008 e the said memory stick in court. Nor should have been able to find it on the s must be and bearing his signature, some photos ry” which the use of jor Ye Nyunt has been using the same two lso held and interrogated Zaw Min before allowed but The other two are civilians identified as ht witnesses listed for the prosecution, six police gave a list of “evidence” to the court aw Min (a.k.a. Paung Paung) under section

a case out of MAS who took him and then gave the case to Special Branch officers, including the officer olice also presented a confession to the court he disk itself has been submitted as evidence. were any confusion about what had occurred ases of its sort, the police were not actually the sent anything to show that Win Maw had been that they had arrested Zaw Min in possession of

cluding Police Major Ye Nyunt. by the fact that as in other c what they said he had done. The police, so that later if there he public can they try to make which is against the law. The p commission

The case opened against Win Maw on 28 March 2008 in a closed co rights

human s with intent to harm t

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2008 ‐ BURMA asian Maw

witnesses” for repeated cases. hat which the witness wrote him or herself (sections 26, 159). ust English learners from the American Center, where Win Maw had gone to study. Win

Another thing about the case against Win Maw is that of the eig

j cases from the protests of last year, which is against the normal procedure of courts in Burma. Again as in other cases of its type from last year, the police couldn’t pre sending the news in order to do that includes legally‐published books owned by Win Maw’s father of democracy leader Daw Suu Kyi, which also are not illegal, and a computer hard disk. If Win Maw had prepared anything against the law as accused the police hard disk and present it as evidence, but they have not. Only t Also, what they recorded on the evidence list as 18 “political” texts they admitted in the court are actually are all Special Branch police, in false new 505(b) with having had contact with Win Maw and sent ‘false new Sanchaung Township Court, Judge Daw Than Htay, Assistant Township Judge, No. Ta/2043 presiding). The list of prosecution witnesses in his case consists only of four bringing the case. As in Win Maw’s case there is no evidence to match the elements of the charge against the accused, and in fact no evidence at all: the police allege a memory stick with photographs on it but they could not produccould they produce documents in court to show evidence can be partly explained that he had produ Similarly, Police Major Ye Nyunt has also charged 39‐year‐old Z

“ Maung Maung Than Htay and U Zaw Thura, who were witnesses to th Procedure Code (section 103). The purpose of having the two witnesses is so that there are independent observers to the actions of the then they could be called to testify and verify facts to a court. However, in the perverted legal setting of Burma this purpose has been completely lost. Instead, Police Ma

t ones to have made the arrest of the accused. Rather, it was the the police with instructions on how to prosecute it. The army a transferring him to the police, obtained from Zaw Min while he was in custody, probably through torture, and read it to the court in order to “refresh his memo violates the Evidence Act not only as such confessions are not also because material brought to refresh the memory of a witnes BURMA 9 in on t e Yuzana thermore, Lat o hiding in

ung women d them with hat could be of Khin Moe Aye Phone

y b) (Felony Case No. een responsible for Na AHRC‐SPR‐009‐2008 o witnesses as in the case of W

Latt has been charged with secti Lay Thi) in his testimony, which is a flagrant t under section 505( es also engage in this trade and turn a assed to others, among other things. pore he also hat he had himself b used of having defaced images of national f about USD 1300 and 100 Euros and Kyaw s of clothing and CDs from ket. Unauthorised traders in money can be on events in Singapore are irrelevant to the is common for people, like in all other areas ment troupe had up to the time that it went Phone Latt was interrogated and detained at l law is used to target anyone in Burma for the same tw e done by law. nbox, which he had received from elsewhere, range of problems with the cases against Nay e was yet again heard in a closed court inside the ding foreign exchange.

by the investigating officer of performances he copied and p e not presented any evidence t lling cash under their watch. However, the police officer bringing this case his email inbox and having distributed these to upset the public tranquility. ving been in illegal possession o e, Thin July Kyaw received item sold in Rangoon. Fourthly, Nay ugust. Garden that were for another person named Ma Ni Moe Hlaing. Fur Thin July Kyaw was accused of having contact with one of the yo who led the first protests in August, , through a school friend, and of having sent money and other things to her after she went int one time at the American Center and one time at a teashop in th A Lastly, how the ordinary crimina any purpose that the state sees fit is exemplified in the case and Kyaw Soe. As Police Major Ye Nyunt apparently had no case t brought against them under the Penal Code he has instead charge illegally buying and hoar commission

rights

aw y K

y human ul J

he cases that the same police officer has lodged using INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2008 ‐ BURMA asian Thin ntertainment troupe, whose CDs nsein Prison, rather than in an open court as should usually b Soe of having kept the money protests of last year. because of their suspected connection to other people involved in the Another person who has been charged together with Nay Phone Lat

distributing any of the contents that they found in his email i not made himself. Secondly, the information given by the police cases that have been lodged against him. Thirdly, the entertain to Singapore had its CDs freely an army camp, a fact acknowledged violation of the law on evidence. And finally, fifthly, the cas I 70/2008) is Thin July Kyaw, a young woman accused of having taken items for persons in hiding after the protests. According to the polic

As in Burma authorised exchange outlets give very low rates it

of life, to buy and sell foreign exchange through the black mar found everywhere in Rangoon, and the police and local blind eye to those buying and se authoriti has accused Khin Moe Aye of ha There is as in other cases arising from last year’s protests a

Maw is against blogger Nay Phone Latt. Like Win Maw, Nay Phone 505(b) after he was arrested at the end of January 2008 and acc leaders, writing and cartoons in According to the police, in December 2007 when he went to Singa met political activists and e went to see the “Four Fruits” (Thi Phone Latt. First, the police hav One of t BURMA

10 e y A

Moe

ought the case to the AHRC‐SPR‐009‐2008 Khin

e presence of prisons’ officials they y for rticipate in keeping the machinery of ortedly ruction of the entire political system and is is an hly, the two accused were illegally held in ure that offence charge or suspicion having been levelled holding nchaung bout the ver, the officer who br edge to offer other than what he had been are being on, not in ds, rather law in the e is under stration of justice after years of suppression at a police s evidence e police for prosecution. When the two were e system; independent investigation of crime ublic representation through political leaders overed the foreign exchange, and it was only ged to have Major Ye Nyunt in court that as in other cases ss‐examination before the court.

ich the charges were laid. In other words, the two accused were first ty there has also been the dest GOING BEYOND “REGIME CHANGE” dure or any orders given. Fourt litary regime and others who pa nch. Thirdly, although the cas tem is basically a surveillanc es the ordinary criminal proced this and had no specific knowl ere are no credible means of p commission

rights

human INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2008 ‐ BURMA asian oes not exist. emand, a fact admitted by the investigating officer in his cro old to present by his superiors. the case should be heard in the court of the locality where the was allegedly committed. There are neither grounds this case to have been transferred for hearings inside the pris nor authorit accordance with the law on proce prison from December 16 until 26 March 2008 when they were finally brought to the court, without any the jurisdiction of the Sanchaung Township Court, the hearings conducted inside the prison, which not only violates the law on an open inquiry, but also breach court was not involved in any of of this type the police did not arrest the defendants at all but MAS personnel did at Kyaik Htoe town and sent them to the central prison, and transferred the case to th originally brought to the prison also, the officers had not unc as they were going through the baggage of the couple that in th supposedly found the money upon wh detained and brought to the central prison without any specific against them at all and only once there was the case made. Howe It also emerged from the details of the case as given by Police

r t repression alive obtain some livelihoods and widespread pover benefit from the the administration of justice. Th situation. Together with destitution, destruction of

Over forty years of militarism has destroyed the livelihoods of the majority of people in Burma. Only a handful that are close to the mi d or parties. There is no free media and the system of the admini has disappeared. The policing sys charges against the two. First, the items of kept at the special court inside the Insein Prison rather than evidence were purp station as required by law, although there are serious doubts a existence of any such evidence at all: the “witnesses” that thi was collected and stored at the prison facility are prison guar than ordinary citizens as is normally required. ordinary criminal case it should have been handled under the Sa Secondly, as th police station, which covers the area where the offence is alle occurred, not through Special Bra There are as in other cases many flagrant breaches of ordinary

BURMA 11 arder to support the AHRC‐SPR‐009‐2008

e developed to address the two gs have further degenerated comes as ed small economic advantages defies the small amount of support hoped for flaws within these movements that are The same thing happened in Cambodia rights movement have failed to make an ch argued that since the military regime ase is now effectively into its 50th year. d in very simple terms. They often come d express themselves, only to be met with ary. If a murderer promised to conduct an see this as ludicrous or does not care. Its n this little was defeated by players in the ot able to do anything in the face of such a ess of such a situation. The government of lar choice can be installed. There is nothing movements to understand and articulate the orce a military regime to give in to demands e that has become organically linked to the ons results in them withering and becoming criminal gave an undertaking to conduct the troyed a country’s justice mechanism cannot ma when the National League for Democracy . It is like a living‐dead organ, existing for the the consequences to mechanisms of justice in f simple political pressure can revive them. In pressured can but work h he world and which also got the largest number integrated.

s the absurdity of the whole thing. military regimes are articulate ional agencies for some perceiv may also fail to account for rate abuse of justice instituti ng the government of India, whi f the country, and one that if a political system that has des political front may eventually f a is in an even worse situation s become fully egies are to be found to address the problems of Burma. commission

rights

human INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2008 ‐ BURMA asian iseased body with which it ha e changed by a mere election, for at least two reasons. imultaneously. elf‐critically if improved strat udicrous situation only compound

repeated uncompromising brutality. After last September, among from abroad was an investigation by the United Nations, but eve international community, includi Even under these circumstances people have tried to organise an for democratic reforms, but these a country that has been under military rule, which in Burma’s c Many years of neglect and delibe Various forms of pressure on a

s linkages between justice and politics, and how strategies can b The biggest flaw is the failure of democratic and human rights

s promised to conduct inquiries then no external ones were necess inquiry into the alleged murder, or for that matter any alleged inquiry into the criminal act, anyone would see the ridiculousn India, the country that calls itself the largest democracy in t of votes to sit in the UN Human Rights Council either does not cynical manipulating of internat description. That the rest of the international community was n all but dead, even if still housed within the body. No amount o fact, the justice system of Burm That despite many decades of talk about democracy in Burma thin

l little surprise. That the global democratic movement and human impact is not a matter of bad luck. There are some fundamental contributing to failure. Those of us concerned with these movements need to look at them and ourselves First, often elections are not honoured, as was the case in Bur overwhelmingly won the vote but was not allowed to take office. b purpose of supporting military rule. It is a system of injustic equally unjust political system o down to the holding of an election so that a government of popu objectionable in that. However, Globally, the demands placed on

d BURMA 12 r takes power to do change at all, apart talking about Burma, AHRC‐SPR‐009‐2008

ut was forced to share power with groups in the country in defeating the and globally adopt a dual approach of stem similarly has so far amounted to ed control and has effectively brought int of documenting individual violations d on which local lawyers, human rights y military control that it may bring into mpossible for whoeve lem faced in Thailand, where the courts ic items that need to be addressed, items a military regime to hold an election and ed to “regime change”, experience shows l intervention. There too the ruling group there was actually any our of its people or anything innate in the es for the protection and the promotion of forms then new opportunities may open up conditions may in certain respects improve, any places and at many levels. For instance, ocratic and human rights agendas. nt not directly under the executive. more meaningful studies on systemic issues. presence of country offices like the UN Office pes of two‐dimensional back and forth about coming and going and lasting and intense consequences for the new remains beyond reach, and in places where it heir lives. agenda towards that end by these groups who

y treated as ungovernable by anyone apart from

d reporting on the policing sy human rights movements locally ng forward proposals on specif reforms. This can be done in m rm control of parts of governme of mechanisms to deal with it. That the country is increasingl commission

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human INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2008 ‐ BURMA asian as used the courts to ensure fi uman rights of people in Burma are to figure in the global dem brief interval, in the absence re hostile to people having a genuine say in what goes on in t

h Second, the political and judicial system may be so perverted b

h power unlikely and unsuitable candidates and it may anyhow be i anything about the institutional arrangements. This is the have become complicit with the armed forces and other powerful prob political party process itself. how much effort has been paid to documenting and monitoring the work of its judicial system in terms of international standards and putti on which the government will feel some obligation to respond an defenders and activists also can work in their respective ways? The answer to this question is shorter than the question itself. No such work has been done, even with the on Drugs and Crime. Monitoring an nothing. The human rights movement has remained stuck at the po and incidents without steps to bring that work into bigger and Serious work in these areas could be more effective than the ty political party issues that goes on at the moment. It is in this respect that we now need to develop our thinking and planning and hone our expertise if better strategi

the Cambodian People’s Party of Hun Sen, which about a one‐party system of the sort that preceded internationa later consolidat when the FUNCINPEC party won the May 1993 UN‐sponsored ballot b an authoritarian‐type leader is not a consequence of the behavi workings of its institutions but a consequence of a deliberate from a reduction in overt violence for a while. And the violence too gets back in under the new regime after If more people in democratic and

a despite all the United Nations experts, diplomats and officials combining struggle for regime change with struggle for legal re in places like Burma rather than simply by putting pressure on admit some superficial political So although the political response to Burma is invariably reduc

a that even a short term and oversimplified goal like this often has succeeded, such as the Philippines and Indonesia, although the forced collapse of institutions under the old regimes have ones. Over time people in some such places begin to doubt that