Suu Kyi was charged with violating the terms of her arrest for allowing
American John Yettaw to visit her home in May.
‘Today, almost 20 years to the day since she was first imprisoned, Aung San Suu Kyi must turn away from freedom and walk back into the cells of her prison,’ comments Dr Agnès Callamard, executive director of ARTICLE 19. ‘This is yet again a terrible blow against a courageous woman, who has withstood more than most people could bear, and yet remains a symbol of principled, dignified leadership.’
The court case has been dogged by politicised delays and procedural anomalies. ARTICLE 19 honorary board member Aung San was charged with breaching the conditions of her house arrest under Section 22 of the State Protection Act, after US citizen John William Yettaw swam across Inya lake and entered her house.
Aung San’s two assistants, Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma, were also handed down the same sentence of one and a half years under house arrest.
‘This is a cynical move by a ruthless regime to prevent Aung San Suu Kyi from standing in next year’s election,’ said Jo Glanville, Editor of
Index on Censorship. ‘It is essential for the international community to continue demanding her unconditional release and to increase the pressure on the Burmese government. We are also deeply concerned about the harsh sentence given to John Yettaw – seven years with four years’ hard labour.’
ARTICLE 19 called on the international community to take a more robust approach and apply consistent political pressure to the Burmese regime. Specifically, ARTICLE 19 called on the governments of India, the People´s Republic of China and the ASEAN states to insist on political change.
The free expression organisation called on the following actions:
The UN Security Council (UNSC) must immediately respond to the sentence with a resolution calling for a full international arms embargo, targeted trade sanctions, and the release of all human rights defenders, journalists and political prisoners, including National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The resolution should also call for fair and transparent multi-party democratic elections, and a new constitution, and should include the National League for Democracy and other parties.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao should either support this and forthcoming UNSC resolutions, including the call for sanctions, or at least remove any obstructions to that process. China’s veto of previous UNSC resolutions on Burma and its opposition to the EU and US calls for stronger sanctions on the Burmese military government acts as a major deterrent for political reforms in the country.
The European Union must finally demonstrate its collective resolve against the military regime with a long overdue decision to impose greater economic sanctions. The EU has limited its actions so far to an arms embargo, a limited investment ban and a few other, rather ineffective, measures (ban on senior figures travelling and a freezing of their assets). There have been no serious common attempts to strengthen measures against Burma, partly because some European governments are actively working against them, in particular Austria, France, Germany, Poland and Spain.
India, another large economic investor in Burma, and one of Burma’s political lifelines, should condemn the sentence, and the continued detention of National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders. As the elected representative of the world’s largest democracy, the Indian government should stand firm on what constitutes democratic elections. In particular, it should clearly state that the conditions for free and fair elections in Burma in May 2010 cannot be met as long as political opponents to the military regime are in detention and the right to dissent is violated.
ASEAN must condemn in the strongest terms the sentence of Aung San Suu Kyi. This is another slap in the face of its constructive engagement with the Burmese regime, and it is time that ASEAN takes a stronger stand against its continued humiliation the regime.
