In Burma, court decisions against the entourage of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi follow and resemble each other. Two close collaborators of the dismissed civilian leader, herself the victim of several legal proceedings by the military junta in power, were sentenced on Thursday to two years in prison for sedition. They are members of the central committee of the National League for Democracy (LND), Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, Thein Oo and Han Thar Myint, who is also the latter’s economic adviser.
Pronounced by a special court inside Insein prison in Rangoon, the sentence represents the last blow struck by the junta in its judicial campaign against the NLD. Other members of the entourage of the former “special state adviser” (head of the de facto government) have already been heavily condemned, in particular the deputy U Win Htein, in October, for treason.
A country in chaos
Earlier this month, Aung San Suu Kyi was herself sentenced to four years in prison for inciting public disturbance and violating health rules related to Covid-19, a verdict strongly denounced by the international community. Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing later commuted the sentence to two years in prison, and announced that she could be served under house arrest in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi is also facing several counts of corruption – each punishable by fifteen years in prison – and violation of the Law on Official Secrets.
The country has been in chaos since February 1, when the generals took power in a coup, accusing the NLD of massive fraud in general elections won handily in November 2020. The protests in across the country against the coup have been bloodily suppressed, with more than 1,300 people killed and 11,000 arrested, according to a local watch group.
These new sentences come a few days after the revelations about a massacre attributed to the military junta in which at least 35 people, including 2 employees of the NGO Save the Children, are said to have lost their lives. In the process, the United States and the European Union announced their support for an international arms embargo on Burma. “Faced with the escalation of violence, additional preventive actions are needed at the international level, including an arms embargo”, thus indicated the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell. Brussels is already blocking sales of arms and equipment that could be used for internal repression.