Two activists sentenced to 5 and 8 years

by Solomon

Tuesday, 03 March 2009 18:02

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Two members of an underground activist group were given fresh sentences by the authority on Monday, representatives of the group said. Two Generation Wave members, Aung Ko Min and Nyein Chan (alias) Khaing Ko Mon were sentenced up to 5 and 8 years respectively, by the Sanchaung Township Court in Rangoon Division, They were charged with involvement in an illegal organization and illegally crossing the country’s borders. “They were sentenced yesterday without their defense lawyer,” Moe Thway, one of the members of GW, who is hiding and communicating with the media, said. “Nyein Chan has one more trial in the Yangon (Rangoon) Divisional Court,” he added. Both the accused were arrested on October 10, 2008 by the authority and a printer and a computer were also seized. However, officials of the Sanchaung Township Court declined to comment saying that they had no authority to speak about the issue. There are 10 GW members, who have been sentenced up to 10 years and altogether 17 members are being detained, said the group. The military junta has granted amnesty for 6,313 prisoners, announced on February 20, after the end of United Nations Human Rights expert Tomas Ojea Quintana’s six day trip to the country. However, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP-B) till today only 30 political prisoners have been released. The activists and opposition party in exile criticized the amnesty of the junta, saying it just meant easing off pressure from the international community as they did in the past. “We cannot expect the political situation in Burma, to improve just because a few political prisoners have been released. This is just a ploy to try and ease international pressure,” said Tate Naing, general secretary of AAPP-B in a statement in February. The UN Human Rights Expert said in an interview to Mizzima, that he had suggested to the Burmese government to review their judiciary and to make it independent and impartial for protecting the fundamental rights of the people. He also said the human rights situation in Burma had not improved and release of a few political prisoners was a good sign, but it was not enough for development. Recently, the European Union, United States and the UN have called on the junta for the release of all political prisoners and in Burma there are more than 2000 political prisoners, still behind bars, according to AAPP-B. < Prev   Next >