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Reuters-Myanmar court rejects oppos



Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Reuters-Myanmar court rejects opposition abuse complaint 

Myanmar court rejects opposition abuse complaint
08:56 a.m. Oct 29, 1999 Eastern
YANGON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Myanmar's Supreme Court on Friday dismissed
complaints of abuse of power levelled by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's
opposition National League for Democracy against senior officials of the
military government.

Legal sources said Supreme Court judge Tin Aung Aye ruled that the
complaints, related to arrest and harassment of opposition members, were not
valid and dismissed them.

It was the first time the Supreme Court had formally responded to the
complaints by leaders of the NLD since the military government took power in
late 1988, but the decision came as no surprise.

A government statement said the opposition complaints had been investigated
but no evidence found to confirm them.

It also said NLD leader Aung Shwe and the three other complainants had
failed to present necessary permission from the government to lodge a
complaint against civil servants.

``Therefore sufficient reason for carrying on the investigation into the
direct complaints made ... were not found and they were dismissed,'' it
said.

The NLD filed the complaints on September 30 against the director-general of
National Intelligence Bureau, Home Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing, Information
Minister Major-General Kyi Aung and Ba Htay, the election commission
chairman.

The current intelligence chief is Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, the
official number three in the ruling military council, but widely regarded as
its most powerful figure.

Listing its complaints in a statement earlier this year, the NLD said its
activities had been ``continuously disrupted, prevented, and destroyed by
the authorities concerned.''

It accused the authorities of illegally detaining its members and organising
mass rallies to denounce elected representatives.

NLD won Myanmar's last election in 1990 by a landslide but the military
ignored the result and has since tried to silence dissent through arrests
and intimidation.

Last year, hundreds of NLD members were detained and large numbers have
since been forced to resign from the party after it pushed for the convening
of parliament.

NLD leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner,
attended Friday's hearing, which lasted about an hour.

The NLD later issued a statement saying it planned to submit a ``revised''
case to the authorities.