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By WAI MOE Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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World leaders have expressed outrage over the 18-month sentence in the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and the European Union plans tougher sanctions against the Burmese regime.
Shortly after the sentence was announced on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicola Sarkozy quickly responded.
“I am both saddened and angry at the verdict today…following the sham trial of Aung San Suu Kyi,” Brown said in a statement, adding that the sentence was further proof that the regime is “determined to act with total disregard for accepted standards of the rule of law and in defiance of international opinion.”
“This is a purely political sentence designed to prevent her from taking part in the regime’s planned elections next year,” Brown said. He said that the 2010 elections will not have credibility or legitimacy unless Suu Kyi and other political prisoners are released, and they are allowed to participant in the poll.
Britain will assume the chair of the UN Security Council in August. Brown said, “I also believe that the UN 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.”
The leader of another UNSC veto power, French President Sarkozy, also reacted strongly, calling for the European Union to pass tougher sanctions against the Burmese regime.
Sarkozy said that the verdict was “brutal and unjust,” and he will ask the EU to respond quickly by adopting new sanctions.
He said the EU’s new sanctions “must in particular target the resources that they [the junta] directly profit from, in the wood and ruby sector.” He said the gas industry, which supplies Thailand and other countries, should be spared from sanctions, according to the statement.
The EU, now under the presidency of Sweden, also condemned the sentence. The EU presidency statement said that the proceedings against Suu Kyi which stem from “charges which were brought twenty years after she was first wrongfully arrested, have been in breach of national and international law.”
Threatening tougher sanctions on Burma, the EU presidency said that the EU will further reinforce its restrictive measures targeting the Burmese regime, including its economic interests.
“The EU underlines its readiness to revise, amend or reinforce its measure in light of the developments in Burma/Myanmar,” said the statement.
The European Parliamentary Caucus on Burma called the military regime “the real criminal” and said the international community should wake up and take stronger action against the regime.
Among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean), the Philippine Foreign Minister Alberto G. Romulo said that the verdict is “incomprehensible and deplorable.”
Thailand, the current chairmanship of Asean, has not yet issued a statement. Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said that Thailand will consult with other Asean members before deciding Asean’s next move on Burma following the sentencing, according to The Nation, an English-language newspaper.
After the sentence, several leading campaign groups, such as US Campaign for Burma and Burma Campaign UK, called for the UNSC to pass an arms embargo on the Burmese regime.
“The dictatorship is directly defying the United Nations Security Council,” said Zoya Phan, the international coordinator for the London-based Burma Campaign UK, in a press release. “It is time the generals faced consequences for their actions; a global arms embargo should be imposed immediately.”
In a statement released soon after the verdict was announced, British Foreign Office minister Ivan Lewis said that the British government would urge the UN to impose further sanctions.
"Specifically we now want to see an arms embargo against the regime. We want to see Burma's neighbors, the Asean countries, China, Japan, Thailand, apply maximum pressure," he said.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Suu Kyi Sentence Stirs World Outrage
アウンサンスーチー氏に有罪判決 1年6ヶ月の自宅軟禁へ
■■■アウンサンスーチー氏に有罪判決 1年6ヶ月の自宅軟禁へ
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アウンサンスーチー氏への有罪判決を受け、ビルマ情報ネットワークとともに
出しましたプレスリリースをお送りします。
ビルマ市民フォーラム
代 表 永井 浩
事務局長 渡辺 彰悟
http://www1.jca.apc.org/pfb/
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プレスリリース 2009.8.11
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アウンサンスーチー氏有罪判決は不当
日本政府は国際社会と連携して実質的な行動を
ビルマ市民フォーラム 及び ビルマ情報ネットワーク
（2009年8月11日、東京）本日、ビルマ（ミャンマー）の民主化指導者で
ノーベル平和賞受賞者のアウンサンスーチー氏に禁固3年の有罪判決が宣告
された（直後に1年半の自宅軟禁に減刑）。アウンサンスーチー氏は、過去
19年間のうち13年間を自宅軟禁下に置かれてきた。今回の有罪判決は、
この状態をさらに長引かせ、アウンサンスーチー氏の自由を奪い続けるまったく
不当なものだ。アウンサンスーチー氏はこの困難な状況に、品位を失うことなく
立ち向かっている。わたしたちはこうした氏の闘いに深い敬意を表明すると
同時に、日本政府に毅然とした対応を求める。
今回の判決は、米国人男性がアウンサンスーチー氏宅に侵入したことを口実
としてビルマの軍事政権（国家平和発展評議会＝SPDC）がアウンサンスーチー氏を
起訴したことによる。軍政は来年2010年に、一方的に起草した新憲法に基づいた
総選挙の実施を計画している。この点についてビルマ市民フォーラム代表の
永井浩は「総選挙での『勝利』を確実にするため、国民の支持を集めるアウンサン
スーチー氏の拘束を続けたいという思惑が働いたのは明らかだ。アウンサン
スーチー氏を始めとした政治囚が自由の身になり、民主化改革のプロセスに参加
できない限り、ビルマの国民和解は進まない」と述べた。
今回の訴追を通じて改めて露呈したのは、ビルマ軍政には真の民主化に向けた
歩みを進める意欲が完全に欠如しているという事実にほかならない。世界中の
支援団体が呼びかけているように、今こそ国際社会がひとつになり、実質的な
行動によってビルマ軍政に応じるべきだ。具体的には、国際的な武器禁輸措置や、
軍政が犯しているとされる人道に対する罪についての国際調査委員会の設置
などが必要だ。
日本は民主主義国家として、またビルマへの主要な支援国として、同国の現状に
重い責任を負う。しかし政府の対応は不十分だ。中曽根弘文外相はたしかに懸念を
表明しているが、その表現はきわめて穏やかだ。驚くべきことに「〔訴追は〕国内
の司法プロセスの問題ではある」「（アウンサンスーチー氏への）医師・弁護士の
提供や外交団による（裁判の）傍聴などの努力は評価する」といった発言まで
存在する。判決の一週間前には3.5億円の無償資金協力の供与も約束した。こう
した日本政府の姿勢について、根本敬・上智大学外国語学部教授は「あまりに
間接的で穏健にすぎる表明だ。これでは軍政に対する抗議とはいえず、日本の
姿勢を逆に誤解させることになりかねない」と語る。
ビルマ情報ネットワークのディレクターで米国弁護士の秋元由紀は「ビルマ
軍政は天然ガスの輸出により多額の収入を得ているのに、国民の福祉を充実
させず、予算の多くを武器の輸入や国軍の増強に充てている。その武力は
もっぱらビルマ国民、特に少数民族住民に対して使用される。日本は軍政の
こうした行動を正視し、軍政が自国民をこれ以上傷つけるのを防ぐためにも、
人道に対する罪についての調査委員会の設置や、武器禁輸措置の採択に向けて、
国連安保理内でリーダーシップを発揮してほしい」と述べる。
アウンサンスーチー氏はかつて「皆さんの自由を、私たちが自由になれるように
行使してください」と言った。わたしたちは、日本政府がビルマの人びとの側に
立つ、本当の意味での支援国になることを求める。
以上
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【スーチー氏起訴後の主な日本政府の発表】
---------------------------------------------------
■外務報道官談話 アウン・サン・スー・チー女史に対する訴追について（5月15日）
http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/press/danwa/21/dga_0515.html
「深い懸念を持って現状を注視している、…民主化が全ての関係者が参加
する形で進められ、2010年の総選挙が国際社会から評価されるものとなる
ことを期待する」
■日ミャンマー外相電話会談（5月18日）
http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/press/release/21/5/1191908_1097.html
「（訴追は）2010年に実施が予定されている総選挙に対する関係国の評価に
大きな影響を与えるものであり深く懸念している・・・国内の司法プロセスの
問題ではあるものの、このような国際社会の声を踏まえ適切に対応してほしい
・・・国際社会に祝福されるような形で・・・民主化プロセスが進むことを
期待する」
■日ミャンマー外相会談（概要）（5月25日）
http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/kaidan/g_nakasone/vietnam_09/0905jm_gk.html
「深く懸念している、・・・（訴追は）司法の問題であることは理解するし、
また医師・弁護士の提供や外交団による傍聴などの努力は評価するが、判決に
よっては国際社会から厳しい批判・反応が予想される、・・・民主化が、すべての
関係者が参加し、国際社会から祝福されるような形で進むことを期待している」
■「V4＋日本」外相会合共同プレス・ステートメント（仮訳）（5月25日）
http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/area/europe/v4+1/0905_gk.html
「外相は、2010年に予定される選挙が、ミャンマーのすべての当時者の間の
包括的な対話を基礎としたものであれば、国際的に歓迎されるであろうことを
指摘した。この文脈で、・・・アウン・サン・スーチー女史を含む政治犯及び
政治的収監者を釈放するよう呼びかけた。外相は、・・・ミャンマー政府に
対して、国民和解及び経済・社会開発を実現するために、全ての当事者を巻き
込んだプロセスを慫慂した。外相は、ミャンマーによる実質的な政治的進展に
対しては、前向きに反応する用意があることを確認した。」
■麻生総理大臣とブラウン英首相の電話会談（5月28日）
http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/kaidan/s_aso/p_uk_0905.html
「（訴追に）深い懸念を持って注視している、今は重要な時期であるので適切に
行動すべきである、国際社会に祝福されるような形で同国の民主化プロセスが
進むことを期待する、と（ニャンウィン外相に）直接伝えた・・・国際社会の
一致した対応が重要であり、英国と緊密に連絡を取っていきたい。」
■日ミャンマー外相会談（概要）（7月22日）
http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/kinkyu/2/20090722_211604.html
「国際社会との関係で、今は、ミャンマーにとって極めて重要な時期である。
そのようなことを踏まえ、アウン・サン・スー・チー女史の裁判については
適切に対応することを期待する。」
■無償資金協力案件 人材育成奨学計画（7月24日）http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/press/release/21/7/1194255_1102.html
若手行政官25人が日本の大学に留学する学費等として3億4,800万円を供与
する交換公文に署名。
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Myanmar's Suu Kyi still a potent force for change
Delicious Digg Facebook Fark Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print By DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press Writer Denis D. Gray, Associated Press Writer – 48 mins ago
BANGKOK – Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is back where the ruling generals want her: inside a crumbling mansion, lonely and isolated from the world.
But a fleeting emergence into public view showed that Suu Kyi's steely grace and charisma, along with her popularity, are intact. She remains a potentially potent force for change in a country that has seen virtually no deviation from harsh military rule for nearly half a century.
For now, the 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate, arguably the world's most famous prisoner, will likely return to her daily meditation, listening to radio news broadcasts and waiting for the occasional censored mail, including letters from two sons she last saw a decade ago.
What continues to keep Suu Kyi tenacious and focused on bringing democracy to Myanmar are her deep Buddhist faith, rigorous self-discipline and the guiding influence of her parents, those close to her say. The only apparent chink in her armor is a fondness for dark chocolate.
Although set within the teeming city of Yangon, her police-ringed home might just as well be on another continent, removed from a downtrodden populace and a junta that extended her 14-year detention for another 18 months on Tuesday.
Suu Kyi was found guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest by harboring an American, John Yettaw, who swam across a lake to sneak uninvited into her compound. The 53-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison with hard labor.
During her 86-day trial, diplomats and supporters were impressed by Suu Kyi's grace under pressure, rebuking those who called Yettaw a fool, sharing her birthday chocolate cake with prison guards and thanking envoys for their support.
"Despite almost two decades of extraordinary pressure — more than half of it in detention — and agonizing personal sacrifices, she looked in remarkable shape," wrote British Ambassador Mark Canning. "Calm, dignified, upright, exuding quiet authority but no hint of bitterness toward the prosecution side."
Josef Silverstein, professor emeritus at Rutgers University and an expert on Myanmar, also called Burma, says that while she may never lead the country, she will always be influential.
"Don't write her off. If she is allowed to live, she has an important role to play in Burma's drama," he says.
Suu Kyi has sometimes been described as an accidental leader, having returned to her homeland in 1988 after two decades abroad to nurse her dying mother just as an uprising erupted against the military regime.
Daughter of the country's independence hero, Gen. Aung San, Suu Kyi was thrust into the forefront of the 1988 demonstrations until the military crushed them brutally and clamped her under house arrest.
But as a teenager Suu Kyi had developed an intense interest in her father who was gunned down by political rivals when she was just a toddler, seemingly absorbing his fierce sense of nationalist mission, military-like discipline and a stubborn streak.
Suu Kyi lived with her mother in India, attended Oxford University, then worked for the United Nations in New York and Bhutan.
Despite the long absence, Aung Din, executive director of the U.S. Campaign for Burma, said Suu Kyi had planned to come back one day to "complete her father's unfinished work, building a democratic country."
"While Suu Kyi's extreme fortitude can be considered an aspect of her natural character, without question her life has been shaped by her parentage," says Justin Wintle, author of the Suu Kyi biography "Perfect Hostage."
Close friends expect this grit to persist through the next phase of her incarceration in her mother's once grand two-story mansion, now gone to seed.
According to one, Su Su Lwin, Suu Kyi adheres to a strict daily routine, rising about 5 a.m., doing meditation and exercise, reading a great deal.
"She doesn't do anything excessively. She lives a very simple life," Su Su Lwin says. "She eats very little. She does like dark chocolate but even that she eats with a limit. She loves to dress up very nicely and neatly but she doesn't like extravagance."
Before her trial, Suu Kyi wasn't allowed telephone or Internet communications, but could get newspapers and listen to the radio. With no satellite dish on her compound, she was only able to watch state-run television.
Her contact with the outside world is unlikely to increase.
She last saw sons Alexander and Kim in 2000, the year after her husband — British academic Michael Aris — died of cancer. The sons, now both in their 30s, have been stripped of their Myanmar citizenship and barred from the country.
Suu Kyi was first arrested in 1989 and barred from contesting general elections called by the junta in May 1990. But her name inspired the opposition campaign and her party scored a landslide victory that the regime never recognized.
Suu Kyi has been offered an exit from her isolation: the junta gave her permission to leave the country when her husband died. But she refused, fearing she would never be allowed to return.
Key events in the life of Aung San Suu Kyi
By The Associated Press The Associated Press – 2 hrs 49 mins ago
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar's independence hero, Gen. Aung San, who was assassinated when she was 2 years old, but she fell into politics almost by accident.
• Born in Yangon, formerly Rangoon, on June 19, 1945.
• Earned degrees in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University in England. Married British academic Michael Aris in 1972 and has two children who live in Britain.
• Rushed back to Burma, later renamed Myanmar, in 1988 to care for her ailing mother. Her trip coincided with mass demonstrations against military government that left thousands dead. She became rallying figure and helped found the National League for Democracy party.
• Arrested in 1989 on charges of inciting unrest and kept under house arrest for the next six years.
• Barred from running in elections called by the junta in May 1990. Her party won 392 of 495 seats in parliament, but military refused to honor the results, and she became symbol of Myanmar's suppressed democracy.
• Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
• Released from prison in 1995 but generals continued to arrest her supporters and prevent her from traveling outside the capital.
• Her husband, who had cancer, was refused permission to visit her before he died in 1999.
• Put under house arrest again in 2000, released unconditionally in 2002 and re-arrested in May 2003. Her current detention was due to expire May 27, 2009.
• Arrested on May 14 and charged with violating her house arrest after uninvited American man swam to her home and stayed two days.
• Convicted on Aug. 11 of violating her house arrest and sentenced to three years in prison, which was reduced by junta chief to 18 months under house arrest.
Myanmar sentences Suu Kyi to more house arrest
Delicious Digg Facebook Fark Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print Play Video Reuters – Protests for Suu Kyi's release
Slideshow:Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi Play Video Terrorism Video:Terrorism suspect to stay in jail WRAL Raleigh Play Video Terrorism Video:Rise in Terrorism? FOX News AP – FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2007, file photo released by Myanmar News Agency, Myanmar's detained pro-democracy … 1 hr 1 min ago
YANGON, Myanmar – A Myanmar court convicted democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday of violating her house arrest by allowing an uninvited American to stay at her home. The head of the military-ruled country ordered her to serve an 18-month sentence under house arrest.
The 64-year-old Nobel Peace laureate has already been in detention for 14 of the last 20 years, mostly under house arrest, and the extension will remove her from the political scene when the junta stages elections next year.
The ruling — which also convicted the American, John Yettaw, and sentenced him to seven years — drew immediate criticism from world leaders, with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling it "monstrous." French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged the European Union to adopt new sanctions, calling the verdict "brutal and unjust."
But the term was less severe than the maximum sentence she faced — five years in prison — and shorter than the one the court initially ordered Tuesday — three years with hard labor.
Five minutes after that sentence was read out, Home Minister Maj. Gen. Maung Oo entered the courtroom and read aloud a special order from junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe, cutting the sentence in half and saying it could be served at home.
Than Shwe's order, signed Monday, likewise reduced the sentences of Suu Kyi's two female house companions, Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma, to 18 months. Both are members of her political party.
The junta leader said he commuted the sentences to "maintain community peace and stability" and because Suu Kyi was the daughter of Aung San, a revered hero who won Myanmar's independence from Britain.
It seemed likely it was in response to intense international pressure, including a call for Suu Kyi's release from the United Nations that was backed by China, Myanmar's key ally and benefactor.
South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu warned, however, that the reduced sentence was "not a concession — it is a manipulation of an illegal process. It must not be accepted by any government."
Suu Kyi looked alert but tired during the 90-minute court session. She stood as the verdict was announced and then thanked foreign diplomats for attending her trial.
"I look forward to working with you in the future for the peace and prosperity of my country and the region," Suu Kyi said in a soft voice to diplomats seated nearby. She then was led out of the courtroom.
Officials said she was driven back to her lakeside villa in a six-car convoy. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the high-profile case.
One of her party members tied yellow ribbons at the gate and two nearby trees as a gesture of welcome. Suu Kyi had been in prison during the trial.
Yettaw — who swam across a lake, entered Suu Kyi's home uninvited and asked to spend two nights before trying to secretly swim back — was sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labor.
Suu Kyi's trial has sparked international outrage and calls for her release and that of Myanmar's more than 2,000 other political prisoners. The sentence sparked angry reaction from across the globe.
"The facade of her prosecution is made more monstrous because its real objective is to sever her bond with the people for whom she is a beacon of hope and resistance," Brown said, calling the verdict a "purely political sentence" aimed at keeping her out of the 2010 elections.
Burma Campaign UK, an activist group, called for a global arms embargo against Myanmar and said the junta was "determined to silence all pro-democracy voices in the country in the run up to rigged elections."
Suu Kyi's international lawyer, New York-based Jared Genser, said her most recent period of detention violated Myanmar's own laws.
"The real question is how the international community will react — will it do more than simply condemn this latest injustice?" he asked.
London-based Amnesty International called the sentence "shameful ... nothing more than legal and political theater."
The 53-year-old Yettaw, of Falcon, Missouri, was returned to Insein prison, the site of the trial, on Monday night after hospitalization for epileptic seizures.
The court sentenced him to three years in prison for breaching Suu Kyi's house arrest. Yettaw was also sentenced to three years in prison for an immigration violation and to another year for swimming in a restricted zone.
It was not immediately clear if the prison terms would be served concurrently, but Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win said that if a court does not specify otherwise, sentences are usually served consecutively.
Yettaw, a devout Christian, earlier told his lawyer that he swam to Suu Kyi's residence to warn her of an assassination attempt that he had seen in a vision.
Yettaw was hospitalized last Monday after suffering seizures. He reportedly suffers from epilepsy, diabetes and other health problems, including post traumatic stress disorder from his service in the U.S. military.
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