The four men were sentenced to death and executed for leading “brutal and inhumane acts of terror”, reported the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar. The newspaper said the executions were carried out according to “prison procedure”, without detailing when or how they were carried out.
Following the news, ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyu’s pro-democracy NLD party said “devastated”.
Myanmar: who was executed
One of the four executed, Phyo Zeya Thaw, 41, was a former lawmaker from their ranks.
The man was arrested in November and sentenced to death in January for violating the anti-terrorism law. A pioneer of hip hop in Burma, whose lyrics criticized the army, he was arrested in 2008 for belonging to an illegal organization and possession of currency. He won a seat as a deputy in the 2015 elections, during the transition from military to civilian rule.
The junta accused him of having orchestrated several attacks against the regime, including an attack on a train that killed five policemen last August in Rangoon.
Another of those executed is Kyaw Min Yu, 53, known as “Jimmy.” He was a prominent democracy activist and received the same sentence from the military court after being arrested in October and sentenced in January.
He was a writer and opponent known for his role in the 1988 student uprising against the military junta at the time.
According to local media, members of the families of the two opponents stood outside the Insein prison in Rangoon, hoping to recover their lifeless bodies.
The other two prisoners were sentenced to death for the murder of a woman they claimed was an informer for the junta.
international reviews
The junta was heavily criticized by international powers when it announced its intention to carry out the executions last month. A joint statement from the European Union, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, and the United Kingdom accused the junta of “reprehensible acts of violence that expose the regime’s disregard for human rights and the rule of law.
US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkendenounced “the regime’s total disregard for human rights and the rule of law.”
Similarly, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said on Tuesday that it is “extremely disturbed and deeply saddened” by the executions.
“The application of these death sentences (…) is highly reprehensible, as it constitutes a step backwards and a blatant unwillingness to support efforts (…) to end the violence and alleviate the suffering of innocent people “expressed the organization from Cambodia, which holds the rotating presidency.
The last capital execution in Burma dates back to 1988, according to a UN expert report from June, which counted 114 death sentences since the coup.
The experts stressed that martial law gave the military the possibility of pronouncing the death penalty for 23 “vague and broadly defined crimes” and, in practice, for any criticism of power. They warned that the executions could be accelerated if the international community did not react.
The executions are likely to aggravate the international isolation of the Burmese military, who seized power by force on February 1, 2021 under the pretext of alleged fraud in the previous year’s elections, in which the NLD swept.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said she was “dismayed” by the executions, a measure that she called “cruel and regressive.”
For his part, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, affirmed that the decision was a “flagrant violation of the right to life, liberty and security of persons.” The director for Asia of the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), Elaine Pearson, asked the international community “to show the board that there will be accountability for its crimes.”
According to a local NGO, more than 2,000 civilians have been killed and more than 15,000 detained since the coup. Among those arrested is Aung San Suu Kyi, a 77-year-old former leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who faces various charges that can total up to 150 years in prison.
Source: Ambito
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