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THE AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL'S 1 JUNE
Subject: THE AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL'S 1 JUNE 95 REPORT ON ASSK.
/* posted July 8 4:00pm 1995 by uneoo@ in igc:reg.burma */
/* -------" The AI report on Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi "------- */
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 1 JUNE 1995
AI INDEX: ASA 16/08/95
MYANMAR
AUNG SAN SUU KYI
INTRODUCTION
------------
20 July 1995 will mark the sixth anniversary of the detention under house
arrest of prisoner of conscience Aung San Suu Kyi. 11 July 1995 marks the
end of Aung San Suu Kyi's period of detention as stipulated by the laws of
the government of Myanmar. Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1991, and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), has
been detained by the military government of MYnamar, the State Law and
Order Restoration Council (SLORC), for the peaceful expression of her
political views. Amnesty International, which has called for her immediate
and unconditional release since the beginning of her detention, now
requests the SLORC to unconditionally release Aung San Suu Kyi in
accordance with Myanmar law.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
-------------------
Between 7 and 16 NOvermber 1994 Professor Yozo Yokota, the United Nations
Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, visited the country.
Although he was allowed to briefly meet three other political prisoners,
his request to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi was refused by the government.
Professor Yokota had similarly been refused permission to meet Aung San
Suu Kyi after requests in 1993, 1992 and 1991. His predecessor, Mrs Sadako
Ogata, had also been denied access to Aung San Suu Kyi in 1990. One of the
reasons given to Professsor Yozo Yokota by the SLORC was that they were
then "meeting her and holding discussions with her" and "did not want any
interference in htat dialogue". In a note verbale to the Special Rapporteur
dated 4 NOvember, the SLORC informed him that Aung San Suu Kyi was detained
for making "seditious speeches inciting the people to acts of violence".
Discussing her case with Lieutenent General Khin Nyunt, Secretary 1 of the
SLORC, on 14 November the Special Rapporteur reported that Khin Nyunt said
"it was too early to say" whether she would be released in Jyly 1995 "in
conformity with the law". In his report to the UN Commission on Human
Rights, the Special Rapporteur recommended that Aung San Suu Kyi be
immediately and unconditionally released. A UN Commission on Human Rights
resolution on Myanmar, passed without a vote on 8 March 1995, also called
for her immediate and unconditional release.
The detention order which Aung San Suu Kyi is held was extended by 12
months in July 1994. This extension had to be reconfirmed in January 1995;
at that time there was widespread speculation that she would then be
released. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in
Myanmar, Professor Yozo Yokota, the decision to extend Aung San Suu Kyi's
detention was taken at the Council of Ministers meeting on 14 December
1994, although she was not given written notification of this decision
until 29 January 1995. In a statement to the UN Commission on HUman Rights
on 23 FEbruary 1995, the Special Rapporteur stated that:
"According to the Government's own interpretation of its altered law,
applied to her with retroactive effect, she cannot continue to be held
beyond 11 july 1995, by which time she will have been detained without
trial for six years."
However, according to the then Foreign Minister of Thailand, Thaksin
Shinawatra, the SLORC told him in January 1995 that Aung San Suu Kyi would
not be freed until the country's new constitution had been drafted by the
National Convention. The National Convention, convened and controlled by
the SLORC, has been meeting intermittently since January 1993. The
delegates have aggreed on several principles, including that no one who is
married to a foreigner or who has lived outside the country during the last
20 years can hold the offie of executive president of vice-president. The
procvisions are widely believed to be designated to exclude Aung San Suu
Kyi from these offices. The SLORC has given no indication when the
constitution will be completed.
Aung San Suu Kyi's husband, who lives in the United Kingdom, was allowed to
spend one month with her between December 1994 and January 1995. Aung San
Suu Kyi released a public statement through her husband when he laft
Myanmar on 23 January. The statement reiterated her belief that democracy
and national reconciliation can only be achieved "through meaningful
dialogue between diverse political forces". She also denied she was
involved in any "secret deals" with the SLORC regarding her release or any
other issue and that she was bound by "democratic duty to act in
consultation with colleagues " regarding "the movement to establish a truly
democratic political system in Burma".
Her husband was refused an entry visa when he attempted to visit her again
in April 1995. In a statement released on 25 April, Dr Boutros
Boutros-Ghali, the Secretary General of the UN, urged the Myanmar
government to promptly review this decision, which he viewed with "grave
concern", and called for Aung San Suu Kyi's release "as soon as possible".
In January 1995 Aung San Suu Kyi had a meeting with the expatriate Burmese
Buddhist monk U Rewatta Dhamma, whom she had previously met in August 1994
and is believed to have arranged the meetings between Aung San Suu Kyi and
members of the SLORC on 20 September and 28 October 1994.
Mr Alvaro de Soto, representing the Secretary General of the UN, visited
Myanmar between 6-8 February 1995. Mr de Soto asked to meet with Aung San
Suu Kyi both before his depatrure from New York and while he was in the
country, but the authorities refused his request. The SLORC informed the
Secretary General's representative that, although no meetings had been held
with Aung San Suu Kyi since 28 October 1994, they intended to meet with her
again.
According to reports, on 28 March 1995, Colonel Kyaw Win, the Deputy
Director of Military Intelligence, confirmed that the legal preiod of Aung
San Suu Kyi's detention expires in July 1995 and that "she will be released
in accordance with what is stipulated in the law", however he also said "a
condition of her release would be that it should cause no domestic
disruption". He also stated "we do not intend to keep her indefinitely, an
dwhe the time is right we shall set her free." Colonel Kyaw Win also said
that currently there were no talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the regime,
as the regime feels it is up to her to agree to its conditions for any
future talks on her release. The SLORC's conditions for further talks have
not been made publid.
DETENTION OF OTHER POLITICAL PRISONERS IN MYANMAR
-------------------------------------------------
The continuing detention of Aung San Suu Kyi is part of a persistent and
ongoing pattern of human rights violations committed by the SLORC since it
took power in September 1988. The SLORC has imprisoned hunderds of
political prisoners, including a group of students arrested during the
funeral of U Nu, Myanmar's only democratically elected Prime Minister, on
20 February 1995. Amnesty International fears they may have been subjected
to torture and ill-treatment, which is common in Myanmar's prisons and
detention centres. Almost 20 MPs, elected in the 1990 ballot but disallowed
by the SLORC from taking their seats, and 40 prisoners of conscience are
still imprisoned. Although the SLORC has released over 2,100 prisoners
since 1992, it continues to deny the rights to freedom of expression and
assembly to the people of Myanmar. Anyone who publicly criticizes the SLORC
is at risk of interrogation and arrest. AS a result a climate of fear has
prevailed since the military's crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in
1989.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
----------------------
In March 1988 students and monks in Rangoon began to demonstrate against
the government of the Burmese Socialist People's Party (BSPP) of General Ne
Win, which had ruled the country since a military coup in 1962. The
non-violent demonstrators were met with violence from the Burmese
army(Tatmadaw) who beat and shot them. This led to further demonstrations
against the army and government in Rangoon, Mandalay and other cities,
until by August 1988 unrest had spread across the country and the army had
killed thousands of demonstrators. In July 1988 Ne Win stepped down and
promised a referendum on the ending of one-party rule and the introduction
of a multi-party democracy. In September, the military staged a coup,
taking power under the neme of the SLORC, and imposed martial law
regulations entiling severe restrictions on freedom of expression and
assembly but also legalising political parties and promising elections in
May 1990.
Also in September 1988 Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo, a former Defence
Minister, founded the NLD and campaigned for a democratically elected
government, respect for human rights and a peaceful settlement of ethnic
conflicts in the Burmese border states. From September 1988 to July 1989,
Aung San Suu Kyi toured the country, making speeches advocating
non-violence, democracy and human rights. During her campaign she was
followed and harassed by members of the Tatmadaw and Military Intelligence.
Thousands of leaders and supporters of political prties and student groups
who were calling for and end to martial law and restoration fo civil
liberties and multiparty democracy were imprisoned for breaking martial law
regulations. On 20 July 1989, police and Military Intelligence raided her
house, arrested others present there, and placed her under house arrest for
"endangering the safety of the state". She was detained extend the length
of detention without trial from three to five years. At the same time, the
SLORC announced that Aung San Suu Kyi's first year of detention had been a
"holding or arrest" period only, and did not therefore count towards her
period of full detention.
Aung San Suu Kyi was not permitted to stand as a candidate in the election
of May 1990, but despite this ban and her detention, the NLD won teh
election, gaining approximately 60% of the vote and 81% of seats. The SLORC
have, however, ignored the resulte of the election and have remained in
power. Amnesty International renews its calls to the SLORC to release Aung
San Suu Kyi immediately and unconditionally.
KEYWORDS: PRISONERS CONSCIENCE1 / WOMEN1/ HOUSE/TOWN ARREST /
ANNVERSARIES/PHOTOGRAPHS /
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