(Hong Kong, December 18, 2008)
The Supreme Court lawyers U Aung Thein and U Khin Maung Shein were convicted by a Burmese court for contempt of court when they withdrew their representation on behalf their clients at the request of the clients who no long had faith in the judicial process. Though the lawyers merely conveyed the wishes of their clients the court condemned them to four months rigorous imprisonment. Now the lawyers are undergoing their sentence.
From the world over there are calls for their release and also condemnation of the Burmese courts. The AHRC opened a website for this campaign which can be found at http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/burma-lawyers/.
Today the AHRC also made a YouTube presentation on the same issue. At this presentation the AHRC condemns the imprisonment and further states that the Burmese courts are merely the courts of the executive and are not independent. Therefore these courts do not have legal or moral authority to compare themselves with independent courts and have no basis to claim contempt of court.
For the details of the presentation please see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrMxs_Jsf9Y
