Sentencing of State Counsellor and President U Win Myint

December 7, 2021.

On December 6, a military junta sentenced Burma’s President, and State Counsellor, in a kangaroo court to 4 years in prison. On that same evening, it was announced they would only serve only half that. Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing’s “show of leniency” was but a cynical attempt to divert attention from the atrocities on Pann Pin Gyi Street, Yangon on Sunday. Where peaceful protestors were rammed by a speeding car and fired on.

The Special Court set up in a Naypyidaw military compound used Section 505(b) of the Penal Code and Natural Disaster Management Law Section 25. The Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Win Myint are currently detained in a secret location, deprived of their fundamental rights.

The charges against the pair lack any legal basis. It was not due to “incitement” or breaking COVID regulations, it was too de-legitimize the November 2020 election results. An attempt to revert Burma back to harsh authoritarian rule.

Yesterday’s events demonstrate the military does not have the political will for dialogue. The release of all political prisoners is the first step for political progress in Burma, but the military want to exclude the 2020 election winners and remove them from Burma’s political process.

The President, State Counsellor and all other political prisoners could all be sentenced to lengthy prison terms if not enough pressure is applied to the military junta. Many of them could die in prison.

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners

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