Foreigners are appealing to the ruling army not to carry out executions. They would be the country’s first politically executed death sentences in more than 30 years.
In Myanmar, the military regime that couped nearly a year and a half ago tightened grip on its opponents.
The army has killed at least 1,900 people and arrested nearly 14,000 after the abductions, the UN estimates. Now, human rights organizations and several donors are also concerned about reports of a resurgence of executions in the former Burma.
The junta has announced that two well-known members of the opposition will be hanged.
– We condemn the latest death sentences. In addition, it would be worrying if the moratorium on death sentences, which had been in force since 1988, were lifted, says the head of the Finnish mission in Myanmar. Pekka Shemeikka.
For the time being, however, Shemeikka welcomes the fact that the date for the execution of the hanging sentences has not been announced.
According to him, Finland is working with the EU, among other things, to prevent the execution of sentences and to convince the Myanmar leadership that the executions would slow down the country’s exit from the crisis.
Convicted well-known opponents of the military regime
The former MP was sentenced to execution Phyo Zeya Thawwhich belongs to the country’s ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyin to the party. Another convict is a democracy activist Kyan Min Yualso known as Jimmy Ko.
Originally known as a hip hop artist, Phyo Zeya Thaw was elected a member of parliament from the Suu Kyi-led NLD in 2012. At that time, the country began to break free from the previous 50-year-old military dictatorship.
Jimmy Ko, on the other hand, is a very well-known long-line activist who was already involved as a military dictator Ne Winin the 1988 student movement.
Both were convicted in January of the junta for subversive activities under terrorism laws. Both appealed their sentences, but appeals were dismissed in a court headed by the military administration earlier this month.
In addition, two to two men convicted of the murder of a woman considered an army reconnaissance are to be hanged.
Asian researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute Bart Gaens says that although there has been a death sentence in Myanmar, the execution would be a radical change.
He also speculates that this may be an attempt by the junta to extort recognition by possibly revoking execution decisions.
– It may be that the junta is trying to blackmail some concessions from, for example, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the international community, Gaens says.
Resistance to the hijacking continues to be fierce
In February 2021, after ten years of more time off, the army seized full power in Myanmar, but the soldiers have faced great resistance.
Citizens have time to get used to the new freedoms that began to be promoted in the 2010s. Reforms began when Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in 2010.
Soldiers also retained a 25 percent stake in parliament after the release of Suu Kyi, but, for example, freedom of speech was increased and many people from all over the world who fled the dictatorship returned to Myanmar.
Last year’s hijacking was a great disappointment to much of the people. The resistance was immediately visible on the day of the kidnapping as people gathered to bang the pots from their balconies.
Since then, resistance has spread across the country. Doctors and teachers, among others, have demonstrated.
More than a hundred death sentences have been handed down
At least 114 death sentences have been handed down during the most recent military regime, the UN estimates. However, no executions have taken place.
Executions were last carried out during Ne Win, who ruled the country from 1962 to 1988 – and even then rarely.
According to public information, two people were hanged for political reasons during Ne Win’s dictatorship. In 1976, a 25-year-old who took part in an anti-military student movement was hanged Salai Tin Maung Oo in the infamous Insein prison.
In 1977, an officer who attempted abduction against Ne Win was executed Ohn Kyaw Myint.
Myanmar commentator Naing Khit indeed, he points out in an article in Irrawaddy that the current junta is behaving in some ways even more cruelly than the soldiers who previously ruled the country.
International criticism of the sentences has had no effect
In addition to the UN and several human rights organizations, the United States and France, among others, have condemned this month’s execution report.
– Death sentences have been handed down by an illegal court in an illegal junta. They are intended to instill fear in Myanmar, the UN said in a statement.
UN Special Representatives for Myanmar are calling on members of the UN Security Council to take a tougher grip on Myanmar because of growing human rights abuses.
The junta has knocked out all criticism of it. In its statement, the administration accuses foreign countries of “supporting terrorism” when they demand the release of those sentenced to execution.
Researcher Bart Gaens estimates that it is very difficult for outsiders to influence the actions of the Myanmar military regime. But behind the scenes you can try.
– I think that the only way you can try is to use so-called quiet diplomacy, behind-the-scenes debate.
Also accused of toothlessness, ASEAN has also tried to convince Myanmar that executions should not be carried out, according to Gaens.
The organization is currently chaired by Cambodia, which is not known as a human rights defender, but does not have the death penalty.
Citizen resistance to Myanmar’s military regime, researcher Bart Gaens, believes will continue as before.