Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been collecting and documenting cases of illegal arrest and imprisonment of persons accused in relation to the September 2007 protests in Burma. In this appeal we give the details of another three persons who in December were convicted without evidence on charges of having attempted to incite public unrest and having and reproducing unlawful VCDs.
CASE DETAILS
According to the information that the police gave the court, Phoe Htoke and Kan Myint both travelled to Thailand where they met with members of unlawful associations, like the Federation of Trade Unions-Burma, and after they came back they were involved in protests in February and April 2007. Furthermore, Phoe Htoke and Nyunt Win allegedly distributed unlawful fliers in the lead-up to the protests in September to encourage people to join in demonstrating, and distributed VCDs of, among other things, a comedy troupe satirising the government and uncensored videos of lectures by monks, and Kan Myint and Nyunt Win tried to organise workers in industrial zones.
Despite the many police allegations, they had no firm evidence to back most of the claims. For instance, they could not show proof of Phoe Htoke’s and Kan Myint’s involvement in the protest in February, which in any event was only about economic conditions, despite having taken photographs of it (the two are not in the photos). They could not give exact dates that the two accused of going to Thailand had travelled there and come back. They also could not give details or evidence of how the three had sought to organise industrial workers. This is even though according to the records they first submitted, they had many types of evidence with which to press charges.
Kan Myint told the court that he had not been involved in the things of which he was accused and that he had signed investigation records while in custody because the police had intimidated him. Nyunt Win said that he had been involved in political activism but that he had stopped from 2002 when he married. He pointed out that from August to November he had been held in custody and so he couldn’t have participated in any of the events in September. He added that at the time of the first protest in the year also he had been at home with family as his wife was expecting a child shortly.
The lawyer for the accused in the video case also was not able to appear on their behalf before its close as he fled to Thailand (see forwarded press release) after being accused and charged with obstructing the work of the court in another trial.
Despite the lack of evidence in the case and the defences offered by the accused, each was sentenced to five years in prison on December 8.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The AHRC has been documenting cases of illegal arrest, detention and prosecution since the nationwide protests in Burma during September 2007 and a year after those events its sister organisation issued a special report, “Saffron Revolution imprisoned, law denied” (article 2, vol. 7, no. 3) detailing many of these cases. Since then, it has issued appeals on a number of other cases and made related statements at a time that a very large number of these cases were disposed of through the courts, including most recently 14 persons convicted over supposedly throwing rocks at security forces (AHRC-UAC-004-2009), and 13 persons convicted over allegedly being part of an illegal organization (AHRC-UAC-002-009), blogger Nay Phone Latt (AHRC-UAU-070-2008), monk U Gambira and ten others (AHRC-UAC-248-2008), political activist Daw Win Mya Mya and four others (AHRC-UAC-246-2008), Zaw Min, charged with sending news abroad (AHRC-UAC-223-2008) and the related case of comedian Zarganar (AHRC-UAU-061-2008).
Meanwhile, lawyers representing many of these persons have been prevented from doing their jobs, like the lawyer in this case, and have themselves been imprisoned, including two who have been jailed for contempt of court, U Aung Thein and U Khin Maung Shein, whose case the AHRC has highlighted in a new campaign page: http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/burma-lawyers/
For earlier related cases see also the group of workers’ rights advocates imprisoned in 2007: AHRC-UP-121-2007 and related article at UPI Asia; and, two men imprisoned for having an unlawful VCD of the daughter of the military junta getting married: AHRC-UA-150-2007 and again related article at UPI Asia.
See also the comprehensive report on Burma: “Burma, political psychosis and legal dementia” issued by the AHRCs sister organisation and the 2008 AHRC Human Rights Report chapter on Burma.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the persons listed below to call for the charges against these three persons to be reviewed and for them to be released without delay. Please note that for the purpose of the letter, the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar, rather than Burma.
Please be informed that the AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteurs on Myanmar and independence of judges and lawyers as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, the UN Working Group on arbitrary detention and the regional human rights office for Southeast Asia, calling for interventions into this case.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ___________,
MYANMAR: 14 people wrongly convicted over 2007 protests
Accused persons:
1. Phoe Htoke (a.k.a. Khin Maung Cho), dried fish merchant, 47, residing in Yankin Township, Yangon
2. Kan Myint (a.k.a. Maung Maung Myint), 47, residing in Hlaingthayar Township, Yangon
3. Nyunt Win, 40, residing in Ward 53, South Dagon Township, Yangon
Primary officials involved:
1. Inspector Myint Maung, Yangon Division Police Force
2. Sub Inspector Kyi Khaing Kyaw
3. Sub Inspector Aung Thura
Charge and trial: Charged under section 32(b) of the Video Law, Felony Case No. 1089/2008 heard by Judge U Thein Swe (No. Ta/2125, special power), sentenced to three years with hard labour each; and under section 505(b) of the Penal Code (upsetting public tranquility), Felony Case No. 1091/2008, heard by Assistant Judge San Mya Kyu (special criminal power), sentenced to two years with hard labour each; both cases heard at Kyimyindaing Township Court and verdicts given on 8 December 2008
I regret that another three men in Myanmar have been sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour in evidence-less trials. I am appealing to you for an immediate review of their cases and for their release.
The case as it has been brought to my attention is that the police accused Phoe Htoke and Kan Myint of both travelling to Thailand where they met with members of unlawful associations, like the Federation of Trade Unions-Burma, and after they came back they were involved in protests on 22 February 2007 at Theindawgyi Market in Papedan Township of Yangon and on 24 April 2007 at the Thingankyun Model Market. Furthermore, Phoe Htoke and Nyunt Win allegedly distributed unlawful fliers in the lead-up to the protests in September to encourage people to join in demonstrating, including on 8 and 15 September 2007 at Mingalar Market and Tamwe Market respectively, and distributed VCDs of, among other things, a comedy troupe satirising the government and uncensored videos of lectures by monks, and Kan Myint and Nyunt Win tried to organise workers in industrial zones.
Despite the many police allegations, they had no firm evidence to back most of the claims. For instance, they could not show proof of Phoe Htoke’s and Kan Myint’s involvement in the protest in February, which in any event was only about economic conditions, despite having taken photographs of it (the two are not in the photos). They could not give exact dates that the two accused of going to Thailand had travelled there and come back. They also could not give details or evidence of how the three had sought to organise industrial workers. This is even though according to the records they first submitted, they had 21 types of evidence with which to impress the court.
Kan Myint told the court that he had not been involved in the things of which he was accused and that he had signed investigation records while in custody because the police had intimidated him. Nyunt Win said that he had been involved in political activism but that he had stopped from 2002 when he married. He pointed out that from 24 August to 14 November 2007 he had been held in custody and so he couldn’t have participated in any of the events in September. He added that at the time of the first protest in the year also he had been at home with family as his wife was expecting a child shortly.
I am also deeply concerned that the two accused did not obtain proper representation, as the lawyer handling the case against the accused under the Video Law, Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min, was himself forced to flee the country after being charged with obstructing the work of the court
I am aware that in Myanmar the burden of proof lies with the prosecution and am disappointed that in this as in other cases of its sort arising subsequent to the 2007 protests the weight of that burden seems to have been very light indeed, to the point that police can submit evidence-less cases and be assured of convictions. Accordingly, in this case and others of its sort I urge the Minister of Home Affairs and the Attorney General and other concerned officials to review it promptly with a view to seeing the three accused persons released without delay.
Finally, I take this opportunity to remind the Government of Myanmar of the need to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross access to places of detention and not least of all, access to those persons and forcibly disrobed monks and nuns who have been held in violation of criminal procedure and without charge or trial since September 2007.
Yours sincerely
—
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Maj-Gen. Maung Oo
Minister for Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663
Fax: +95 67 412 439
2. Lt-Gen. Thein Sein
Prime Minister
c/o Ministry of Defence
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 372 681
Fax: + 95 1 652 624
3. U Aung Toe
Chief Justice
Office of the Supreme Court
Office No. 24
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 67 404 080/ 071/ 078/ 067 or + 95 1 372 145
Fax: + 95 67 404 059
4. U Aye Maung
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Office No. 25
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 404 088/ 090/ 092/ 094/ 097
Fax: +95 67 404 146/ 106
5. Brig-Gen. Khin Yi
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663
Fax: +951 549 663 / 549 208
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
