(Reuters) – Burma’s ruling military junta said on Monday it had executed four pro-democracy activists accused of helping carry out “terrorist acts”, the first executions in decades in the country, sparking widespread conviction.
Sentenced to death after closed trials in January and April, the four prisoners were accused of helping militias fight the army that seized power in a coup last year. last and unleashed a bloody crackdown on its opponents.
Burma’s national unity government, a movement made up of ousted parliamentarians, leaders of the anti-coup protest and representatives of ethnic minorities, has condemned the executions and called on the international community to take action against the junta.
“Extremely saddened (…) I condemn the cruelty of the junta,” Kyaw Zaw, the spokesman for the office of the president of the movement, told Reuters by message. “The international community must punish their cruelty,” he demanded.
Among those executed are pro-democracy opposition figure Kyaw Min Yu, aka ‘Jimmy’, and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former lawmaker in the ranks of ex-leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party and hip-hop artist. , according to the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
The other two people executed are Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw.
“These executions constitute an arbitrary deprivation of life and are yet another example of Burma’s atrocious human rights record,” said Erwin Van Der Borght, Regional Director of Amnesty International.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun confirmed the executions to Voice of Myanmar on Monday.
According to the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners (AAPP), the last executions in the country date back to the end of the 1980s.
(Reuters reporting, writing by Ed Davies and Michael Perry; French version Diana Mandiá, editing by Kate Entringer)