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Myanmar junta cuts six years from Suu Kyi’s 33-year jail term

Myanmar reduced Aung San Suu Kyi’s prison sentence by six years, despite facing 14 cases. The junta’s move is criticized as a ploy to appear moderate amidst ongoing violent resistance and repression.

Thousands have been killed and displaced since the coup.

Published

1 year ago

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YANGON, MYANMAR — Myanmar reduced ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s 33-year prison sentence by six years in a partial pardon on Tuesday, as the junta struggles to quell bloody resistance to its rule.

The country has been ravaged by violence in the two years since Suu Kyi was deposed in a coup and hit with 19 criminal cases ranging from corruption to breaching COVID-19 rules.

There have been concerns for the 78-year-old Nobel laureate’s health and the junta moved her from prison to a government building last week.

“Six years imprisonment will be reduced,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told reporters after it was announced she had been pardoned in five cases.

Suu Kyi still faces 14 cases despite the pardon. Rights groups have condemned the legal battle against her as a sham designed to remove a popular democratic leader from the public eye.

Former Myanmar president Win Myint, who was also removed in the 2021 coup, was granted a four-year reduction in relation to two cases, the junta spokesman said.

‘Cruel games’

Tuesday’s announcement was part of an amnesty of more than 7,000 prisoners to mark Buddhist Lent, including 125 foreigners who are to be released and pardoned.

An unspecified number of prisoners facing the death penalty also had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment, the announcement said.

David Mathieson, an independent analyst on Myanmar, said the partial pardon was a “cynical ploy to tell the world that there might be some kind of political resolution coming. When we know that there is not”.

“I think they are just playing cruel games with a political prisoner,” Mathieson told AFP.

“All the charges against her are absurd and shaving six years off 33 isn’t mercy.”

Human Rights Watch’s Asia division deputy director Phil Robertson said the junta aimed “to create the impression of moderation and dialogue when in fact there really is none on offer”.

Joe Freeman, a spokesman on Myanmar for Amnesty International, said the reductions showed the arbitrary nature of the junta’s military courts.

“Those swept up in its clutches never know what may happen to them,” he told AFP.

Still popular

Suu Kyi was detained on the night of the coup in February 2021 and has only been seen once since — in grainy state media photos from a bare courtroom in the military-built capital Naypyidaw.

She was required to attend almost daily hearings in the junta court to hear cases against her ranging from corruption to possession of illegal walkie-talkies and flouting coronavirus restrictions.

In July, Thailand’s foreign minister met Suu Kyi, the first known meeting with a foreign envoy since she was detained. Details of what they discussed are not known.

Suu Kyi remains popular in Myanmar, even after her international image was tainted by a power-sharing deal with the generals and her failure to speak up for the persecuted Rohingya minority.

But many of those fighting for democracy since the coup have abandoned her principle of non-violence and taken up arms to try and permanently root out military dominance of Myanmar’s politics and economy.

As a result, much of the Southeast Asian country is in armed conflict, with thousands killed since the coup, more than a million displaced according to the United Nations, and the army struggling to assert its dominance.

According to a local monitoring group, more than 3,800 people have been killed since the coup, a figure the junta puts at 5,000.

The junta announced on Monday it would extend a state of emergency by six months, which is likely to delay elections promised for August.

The military cited alleged widespread voter fraud during November 2020 elections as a reason for its coup, which sparked huge protests and a bloody crackdown.

Those polls, won resoundingly by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, were described as free and fair by international observers.

Myanmar regularly grants amnesties to thousands of prisoners to commemorate holidays or special Buddhist dates.

The junta released some 23,000 prisoners after the 2021 coup, although rights groups feared it was an attempt to free up space for military opponents.

More than 24,000 people have been arrested since the military’s coup, according to a local monitoring group, and almost 20,000 remain behind bars.

— AFP

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Civil Society

FORUM-ASIA condemns Myanmar junta’s forced conscription expansion, urges international action

FORUM-ASIA condemns Myanmar’s military junta for expanding forced conscription, calling it a desperate bid to maintain power. The policy, affecting men aged 35 to 60, adds to a long list of human rights violations, including forced labor and the use of civilians as human shields.

Published

2 weeks ago

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4 September 2024

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The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) has condemned the Myanmar military junta’s recent decision to expand the age limit of its forced conscription policy, calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar.

The move is seen as a desperate attempt by the junta to maintain control in the face of a growing pro-democracy resistance movement.

On 25 August 2024, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing announced the introduction of a new “security system with public participation.”

This system would require men aged 35 to 60 to serve as guards, potentially placing them on the frontlines of conflict. The announcement follows the formation of the Central Supervisory Committee for People’s Security and Anti-Terrorism on 16 August, tasked with organizing military training and overseeing “people’s security and anti-terrorism” groups at various administrative levels.

The junta’s plan builds upon the forced conscription policy it implemented on 10 February 2024, invoking the 2010 People’s Military Service Law.

The law mandates men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to serve two years in the military, with professionals like doctors and engineers potentially serving up to five years. Those who evade service or assist others in doing so face up to five years in prison. As part of this policy, the junta planned to conscript 5,000 individuals monthly from April 2024.

Civilians as Human Shields and Forced Labor

FORUM-ASIA has condemned the junta’s forced conscription policies, highlighting the military’s history of using civilians as human shields and forcing them into hard labor.

The International Labour Organization’s Commission of Inquiry found in October 2023 that the military continues to impose forced labor amidst the ongoing armed conflict, a practice that has escalated since the 2021 coup attempt.

Local news and human rights groups have reported that the junta is also abducting and arresting citizens to use as human shields, further contributing to the human rights violations in Myanmar. Many youths, rather than being conscripted into fighting for a regime they oppose, have fled their homes to join the resistance.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed concern over the junta’s detention and recruitment of Myanmar youth. Meanwhile, Tom Andrews, UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, noted the junta’s increasing use of powerful weapons against civilians as troop losses and recruitment challenges mount.

Call for Action

FORUM-ASIA is calling on the Myanmar military junta to immediately halt its forced conscription, abductions, forced labor, and the use of civilians as human shields.

“FORUM-ASIA urges the international community, including the UN and ASEAN, to thoroughly investigate the Myanmar military junta’s long list of human rights violations. The junta should be held accountable for all its crimes through sanctions and other punitive measures,” said Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA.

“The international community must urgently isolate the junta and support the people of Myanmar in their struggle for justice and freedom,” Bacalso added.

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Myanmar

Sembcorp Industries suspends Myingyan Power Plant operations amid escalating unrest in Myanmar

Published

1 month ago

on

14 August 2024

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Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries, backed by the government-owned investment firm Temasek, announced on Monday the temporary suspension of operations at its Myingyan Independent Power Plant in Mandalay, Myanmar.

The decision follows escalating civil unrest in the region, including in the Myingyan township, where the US$300 million, 225-megawatt (MW) gas-fired power plant is located.

The Myingyan power plant, which began operations in 2018, is one of the largest independent gas-fired plants in Myanmar, employing over 70 workers and supplying electricity to five million people.

Built under an agreement with Myanmar’s Ministry of Electricity and Energy, the plant was expected to play a key role in meeting the country’s growing demand for electricity. Sembcorp Myingyan Power Company had agreed to operate the plant for 22 years before transferring it to the Myanmar government.

The recent suspension of operations comes after People’s Defence Force (PDF) forces launched attacks in the Taungtha, Natogyi, and Myingyan townships on Saturday, including an attack on a junta base located only about six kilometers (four miles) from the power plant. Sembcorp cited these escalating security concerns as the reason for halting operations, noting that they will resume as soon as conditions are deemed safe.

“Sembcorp will look to resume operations at the Plant as soon as reasonably practicable once conditions are safe,” the company said in a statement.

However, the exact timing of the suspension remains unclear. The Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation indicated that Sembcorp’s plant, along with another nearby one, ceased operations around noon on Tuesday. The company warned of reduced power supplies as a result.

The temporary closure of the Myingyan plant is expected to exacerbate the already unstable power supply in Myanmar.

Aung Myo Lat, a former Myingyan member of parliament for the ousted National League for Democracy, told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that significant power cuts could be anticipated.

“Now that Sembcorp has been suspended, the amount of power supplied nationwide will be significantly reduced,” he said. “There may be more power cuts than before, and the electricity may decrease a lot. That’s just something else we’ll have to deal with.”

The Sembcorp Myingyan plant has previously come under scrutiny due to allegations of indirectly supporting the Myanmar military’s weapons industry.

In October last year, the advocacy group Gutzy raised concerns about the plant’s connection to the Myingyan No. 1 Steel Mill, which is believed to produce steel for the Defence Industry (DDI), managed by the Myanmar junta.

Gutzy questioned Sembcorp about whether it was aware of this connection and how it responded to allegations of indirectly supporting the junta’s weapon production.

In response, Sembcorp clarified that “The power generated from the Sembcorp Myingyan Independent Power Plant is sold to the Electric Power Generation Enterprise, a power department within the Ministry of Electricity and Energy. The Ministry of Electricity and Energy is responsible for the transmission and distribution of electricity to consumers in Myanmar.”

This post was first published on Gutzy.asia

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