Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regrets to inform you that six human rights defenders in Burma, including one who was seriously assaulted by a gang organised by local authorities in April, have all been sentenced to prison from four to eight years on allegations of upsetting public tranquillity. A criminal complaint against some of the assault perpetrators is still pending. Meanwhile, another person from the same group in a different part of the country has also been on trial on the pretext of giving illegal tuition after he organised a discussion about human rights at his house.
CASE 1:
As the AHRC described in its original appeal (UA-135-2007), four members of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters (HRDP) group were attacked after midday on 18 April 2007 in Oatpone village, west of Rangoon, by a government-organised gang. Two of them were severely assaulted and hospitalised.
The heads of two local councils then lodged cases against six members of the group in connection with a series of incidents in the lead-up to the assault (UP-082-2007; UP-062-2007). This follows a pattern in such cases in Burma that when a person complains against a government official he or she is then hit with a counter-complaint.
On July 24 the court found the six accused guilty, despite a lack of any firm evidence concerning the series of random allegations against them: five who are local farmers were sentenced to four years in prison each; one, an assault victim who had come from outside the locality, was sentenced to eight years on two counts. The lawyers for the group have said that they will appeal the verdict.
Meanwhile, the criminal complaints against the authorities were never accepted by the court, other than a single minor charge against three on the lowest rung of the administrative ladder. Three private civilians also were charged and the case is going on in court. However, the request by the lawyer for the human rights defenders to have the local council chairman and police appear as witnesses in the trial was refused.
CASE 2:
The AHRC has also monitored the related case of another member of the HRDP who was arrested on 10 July 2007 after holding a discussion about human rights in his house the day before.
According to information obtained from the Yoma 3 News Service (Thailand) and other sources, Ko Min Min was charged and tried under the tuition law with organising illegal classes because he held a meeting of about 20 persons to discuss basic human rights at his house. He had previously held tuition classes there but had stopped some time earlier. After he was arrested by the police he was kept in prison awaiting and during trial.
Min Min’s trial is continuing, and according to the latest information a number of witnesses have testified that he was not giving illegal instruction as accused. Today, July 27, the hearings are going on and a verdict is expected soon; the AHRC will give an update on his case as soon as full details become available.
Min Min’s case is similar to that of U Aung Pe, who was also charged with holding illegal tuition after he put a t-shirt bearing a picture of democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi where he was giving voluntary lessons for poor children (UP-029-2007; UP-030-2006; UP-132-2005; AHRC-PL-012-2006). Aung Pe is still in prison.
For additional information on other similar cases and related issues, please see the previous appeal and updates, and the AHRC Burma homepage: http://burma.ahrchk.net.
______________________________
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the attorney general and other concerned persons below calling for the cases against the victims of the attack to be closed, and for prosecution of all the alleged perpetrators. Please note that for the purpose of the letter, the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar, rather than Burma, and Rangoon as Yangon.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ___________,
MYANMAR: Criminal convictions of human rights defenders in Henzada; trial in Pyay
CASE 1
Details of human rights defenders:
1. Ko Myint Naing (a.k.a. Ko Myint Hlaing), 40, member, Human Rights Defenders & Promoters (HRDP), resident of Henzada Township, Ayeyarwaddy Division (respondent to both criminal cases)
2. Ko Kyaw Lwin, 40, farmer, married with three children, resident of Tamaing village, Taluttaw, Henzada Township (respondent to first criminal case)
3. U Hla Shein, 62, farmer, married with two children, resident of Oatpone village, Kanyinngu Village Tract, Henzada Township (respondent to second criminal case)
4. U Mya Sein, 50, farmer, married with six children, resident of Oatpone (respondent to second criminal case)
5. U Win, 50, farmer, married with five children, resident of Oatpone (respondent to second criminal case)
6. U Myint, 59, farmer, married with four children, resident of Oatpone (respondent to second criminal case)
Complainants:
1. U Win Zaw Oo, Chairman, Eingapu Village Tract Peace & Development Council (PDC), Oatpone village, Henzada Township (complainant in first criminal case)
2. U Aung Than, Chairman, Kanyinngu Village Tract Peace & Development Council (PDC), Oatpone village, Henzada Township (complainant in second criminal case)
Date of original incident: 18 April 2007
Place of incident: Oatpone-Taluttaw road, near Oatpone village, Henzada Township, Ayeyarwaddy Division
Cases details: Felony Nos. 742 & 743/2007, Henzada Township Court, Judge U Aung Min Htin
CASE 2
Details of human rights defender: Ko Min Min (a.k.a. La Min Htun), 30, former tuition teacher, resident of Thayetdaw Ward, Pyay Town, Bago Division
Charged by: Pyay Town Police Station No. 2
Date of arrest: 10 July 2007, around 6pm
Charge: Illegal tuition under section 23, 1984 Tuition Law
I am writing to express my outrage at the imprisonment of seven human rights defenders in Myanmar which is clearly intended to intimidate and prevent persons from working for the protection and promotion of basic human rights there.
According to the information that I have received, Ko Myint Naing, the victim of a brutal attack in Henzada on 18 April 2007, and five other members of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters (HRDP) group were sentenced to eight years and four years in prison respectively on 24 July 2007; Myint Naing was sentenced on two counts, and ordered to serve the four year terms consecutively. They were convicted of having upset public tranquility, despite the absence of any firm evidence against them. Meanwhile, the local authorities accused of being behind the incident have not even been brought to court as witnesses, let alone respondents, in the case lodged by Myint Naing.
Additionally, Ko Min Min, who is also a member of the HRDP, was arrested at the “Htoochunpankhin” tuition centre in Pyay town around 6pm on July 10 after he had held a discussion on human rights with around 20 local persons and a few from Yangon at his house on Bogyoke Rd in the town the night before. Some 100 copies of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) were reportedly also removed from the house. On July 11 he was charged with giving illegal tuition; however, he and witnesses testified that whereas he had previously obtained a permit from the local Township Education Office to give instruction at that location, when it expired he had gone to teach at the centre where was arrested, and had removed the board advertising tuition outside his house and packed away the related books. Notwithstanding, he was put on trial and the hearings have been going on, with three students and two locals all testifying that he was not giving illegal tuition. I am eagerly following the case and anticipating the verdict.
It is clear that these persons have been targetted due to their activities in promoting human rights. It should also be noted that the work that they have done has been strictly in accordance with the parts of the international human rights system to which the government of Myanmar has voluntarily subscribed. They were distributing and instructing on the UDHR, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention to Eliminate Discrimination against Women, all of which Myanmar has joined, and even followed with domestic laws (i.e. the Child Law 1993). It is thus absurd that they should suffer concocted legal cases as a consequence of informing people in Myanmar about laws to which they are entitled to be protected.
I therefore urge that the Attorney General instruct the relevant township law offices to review these cases and see that the accused are released from imprisonment pending appeals, and that these not be contested by the prosecution. I am especially concerned that five of the imprisoned men in the first case are farmers who are also the main income earners for their families, and thus their wives and children are also suffering needlessly as a result of this unjustified legal action by the state.
The case brought against Ko Min Min also bears a strong resemblance to that brought against U Aung Pe, who on 25 August 2005 was sentenced to three years in prison for illegal tuition, although the judgement against him made clear that his real crime was having hung a t-shirt bearing the image of Nobel prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi where he was teaching some poor students free of charge. I thus take this opportunity to also call for his immediate release.
In closing, I urge that the courts of Myanmar cease being used as a means to further abuse citizens’ rights, which not only has negative consequences for the concerned persons but also for the entire legal and judicial system itself. Although the government of Myanmar has spoken repeatedly of building the “rule of law”, at the present time such rhetoric is nothing other than a cruel joke. The rule of law cannot be built through propaganda. It can only be built through concrete actions to protect–not undermine–rights, in cases such as these.
Yours sincerely
—
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
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
PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:
1. Lt-Gen. Thein Sein
Acting Prime Minister
c/o Ministry of Defence
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 372 681
Fax: + 95 1 652 624
2. Maj-Gen. Maung Oo
Minister for Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 040/ 069/ 072
Fax: +95 67 412 016/ 439
E-mail: ddg.gad@gad.gov.mm
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. Brig-Gen. Khin Yi
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 549 196/ 228/ 209
5. Mr. Patrick Vial
Head of Delegation
ICRC
No. 2 (C) – 5 Dr. Ba Han Lane
Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, 8th Mile
Mayangone Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel.: +951 662 613 / 664 524
Fax: +951 650 117
E-mail: yangon.yan@icrc.org
6. Mr. Shariq Bin Raza
Representative
UN Office on Drugs and Crime
11A Malikha Road
Ward 7, Mayangone Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel: +951 666 903/ 660 556/ 660 538/ 660 398/ 664 539
Fax: +951 651 334
E-mail: fo.myanmar@unodc.org, shariq.raza@unodc.org, camila.vega@unodc.org
7. Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro
Special Rapporteur on Myanmar
Attn: Mr. Laurent Meillan
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: + 41 22 9179 281
Fax: + 41 22 9179 018 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR MYANMAR)
E-mail: lmeillan@ohchr.org
8. Ms. Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary General on human rights defenders
Att: Melinda Ching Simon
Room 1-040
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 93 88
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS)
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (ua@ahrchk.org)
