|
|
BURMA: Junta To Release Aung San Suu Kyi After Elections
By Larry Jagan
BANGKOK, Aug 11 (IPS) - Aung San Suu Kyi is to spend another 18 months in detention as Burma’s
military rulers try to make sure she cannot influence the planned election next
year.
The Nobel peace laureate was convicted of violating state security laws, while
she was under house arrest. Her crime: to give an uninvited U.S. citizen food
and shelter, after he swam across the lake to her home. "A shamefully
predictable verdict, and a sentence shamelessly designed to constitute a
‘concession’ to international pressure and concern," according to Amnesty
International’s Bangkok-based Burma researcher.
Already there has been an international outcry, with the Britain’s Prime
Minister Gordon Brown calling the verdict a sham. It is "a purely political
sentence" designed to prevent her from taking part in next year’s planned
elections, he said.
The trial result is likely to intensify the divisions within the international
community - especially between the west, which wants tougher sanctions,
and Burma’s Asia allies who oppose sanction on principle.
Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to three years in jail with hard labour, by the
court judges. But immediately after the verdict was read out, Burma’s home
minister, Major-General Muang Oo, stood up and announced that the junta
had decided to reduce her sentence and allow her to serve the term in her
home. In effect she has been given a suspended sentence.
Muang Oo said the government had taken into account the fact that Suu Kyi
was the daughter of Burma’s independence hero Aung San, as well as "the
need to preserve community peace and tranquillity and prevent any
disturbances in the road map to democracy" - a reference to the generals’
plans for the introduction of a guided democracy, including elections next
year.
The American intruder, John Yettaw, was jailed for seven years - four with
hard labour.
Suu Kyi has already spent more than 14 of the past 20 years in detention. She
denied the recent charges, but through her lawyers, said she expected to be
convicted.
The pro-democracy campaigner and opposition leader is expected to
challenge the verdict in the country’s high court, according to her Burmese
lawyers. Aung San Suu Kyi has instructed her defence counsel to exhaust all
legal avenues in challenging the regime, according to her American lawyer,
Jared Genser.
The guilty verdict was always expected, the apparent lenient sentence more
of a surprise. But, head of state Than Shwe’s key objective was always to
marginalise her and prevent her from campaigning in next year’s elections.
"They [the military rulers] are frightened of her because they know that if she
was allowed to run in the elections, the whole country would vote for her,"
Soe Aung, a spokesperson for the exiled Burmese opposition based in
Thailand, told IPS. By finding her guilty of a criminal charge and an imposing
an 18 month-sentence, they are effectively keeping her out of sight until after
the election is held sometime towards the end of next year.
"For a political prisoner, any sentence is unacceptable, and she should be
released immediately," said Benjamin Zawacki, of Amnesty International. "So,
18 months is still too long. But it is long enough for the generals, as simple
maths will tell: the 2010 elections can be held as late as 31 December next
year and still precede her release by two months," he said.
But more crucially, according to seasoned Burma watchers like Derek Tonkin,
a former British ambassador to both Thailand and Vietnam, this conviction
automatically ends any possibility of her having a public political role under
the new constitution. "She is ineligible to stand as a candidate under Article
121 (a) of the new Constitution which disqualifies ‘a person serving a prison
term, having been convicted by the Court concerned for having committed an
offence’ from standing for election," he told IPS.
Previously she had been ruled out from being President because of her
marriage to a foreigner, the renowned British academic, Michael Aris who
died of prostate cancer more than ten years ago. The junta inserted a clause
in the constitution - approved by a referendum in 2008 - that effectively
excluded Suu Kyi from the highest public office. Article 59, ‘Qualifications of
the President and Vice-President Article’ says: "The President of the Union
himself, parents, spouse, children and their spouses shall not owe allegiance
to a foreign country, nor be subject of or citizen of a foreign country."
Clearly the trial, the verdict and sentence are all part of Than Shwe’s grand
plan to introduce a political system that ensures the army retains its hold on
power even under a nominally civilian government after the 2010 elections.
Most analysts and diplomats in Burma believe that the electoral law - which
will outline the political procedures for the elections - is likely to be revealed
in the coming months.
"It’s almost certain to make it mandatory for all political parties to field
candidates in next year’s elections," said Tonkin. "If the NLD [National League
for Democracy] does not comply they will certainly be deregistered," he
added.
While their leader remains under house arrest, the NLD would have no
alternative but to boycott the elections. So has Than Shwe really succeeded in
silencing his long-term opponent and perhaps deflecting international
pressure at the same time - at least for the time being. The apparent lenient
sentence is certainly an attempt to placate criticism and pressure from their
Asian neighbours, especially China.
"It is indeed a concession, for the generals would have certainly preferred -
but for international pressure - five years behind prison bars, rather than 18
months behind house walls," said Zawacki. "But it should not be accepted as
such by the U.N. and [the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN)] - both of which have called for Suu Kyi’s release over the
past several months, but share a costly history of mistaking lateral or even
backward movements in Myanmar as progress."
But already the international community is increasingly divided on how to
bring about change in Burma.
The EU, supported by both France and the United Kingdom have already
condemned the court decision and threatened tougher sanctions. French
President Nicolas Sarkozy said tougher sanctions "should particularly target
the resources it profits directly from - wood and ruby mining." He did also
say the oil and gas industry - in which the French company Total is involved
- should be exempt.
"The U.N. Security Council must take this opportunity prompted by the
extension of Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest to adopt a resolution pressing
for national reconciliation in Burma and the restoration of genuine
democracy," said Jared Genser, a human rights lawyer and campaigner on
pro-democracy leaders behalf. "I also urge the U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon to continue his personal high-level diplomacy with the Burmese
junta and especially with its allies in the region, including China, India, and
the ASEAN countries," he told IPS.
The U.N. Security Council is almost certain to discuss Aung San Suu Kyi’s
continued detention in the near future. Britain and France are strongly
pushing the issue. Britain will assume the chair of the U.N. Security Council
in August.
"I also believe that the U.N. Security Council - whose will has been flouted -
must also now respond resolutely and impose a world-wide ban on the sale
of arms to the regime," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.
(END/2009)
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
What is RSS?
