BURMESE OFFICIALS ACCUSED OF RUSHING TRIAL, ABSOLVED OF MASS MURDER

May 20 2009

Yangon, Burma – The nation of Burma, or Myanmar, has had one of the most volatile histories of the modern world. The military junta which seized power in a 1962 coup has transformed the country from beautiful tourist destination to a country ruled on fear with few freedoms and regular outbreaks of brutal violence. Some have
sought to restore that paradise but have been routinely shut down or eliminated, as has been the case with Nobel Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now standing trial to ensure she remains out of next year’s election.

Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for nearly 18 years and was considered a major threat to the ruling government. Elected to Prime Minister in 1990, the pro-democracy advocate was immediately put under detention by the Burmese military and was due to be released in time for the next election. Now Burmese officials are accused of artificially accelerating the trial in hopes of keeping Suu Kyi from potentially taking power in one of their grossest violations of human rights. Though not free from the spectre of mass murder and wanton oppression, many are pointing to the speed of the trial as the worst violation yet committed.

“Most people in the United States are used to the concept of a speedy trial. The right
to a speedy trial is even guaranteed to the people of the country in the constitution
and so for many the concept of this being such a damning indictment is a foreign concept. Criminal trials can be long, expensive, and very taxing on the accused and for most, speed is preferable,” said Scrape TV International analyst Gustav Hander. “In the case of Suu Kyi obviously the Junta is attempting to keep her in prison in order to keep her out of the election process which of course is a really dishonest and unfair thing to do. In a lot of ways though it may have been a smart move because it has moved international attention away from their human rights issues and focused it on their judicial process, which can only be a good thing.”

Among other human rights violations committed by the ruling party is oppression of women, forced labour, child labour, human trafficking, censorship, and genocide, all of which are considered fairly standard violations amongst military dictatorships.

“As an oppressive government the Burmese rank vey highly. They have nearly all the traits exhibited by military regimes from all over the world but because they are in such a closed society and inhabited principally by poor Asian people they tend to rank very low in the arena of public interest,” said a spokesperson for
Amnesty International. “What really separates them in the Suu Kyi case is that they actually have a viable system of jurisprudence that is now being manipulated. When we look at other countries committing gross human rights violation like say Equatorial Guinea or Sudan you don’t see this kind of meddling with the criminal justice system, largely because they have none to speak of. When it comes to Burma, they have judges and lawyers and that brings with it certain expectations that Than Shwe and the ruling party just don’t seem to respect.”

Judicial improprieties are often cited as one of the worst violations committed against a population by countries such as the United States and Britain who have built up a standard against which others are judged.

“While the sight of dead children or the spectre of genocide excites the masses, many
in the know realize that abstracts such as jurisprudence are the real killer when it comes to oppression of people. No matter how brutal a dictatorship, concepts are the engine that fuels them,” continued Hander. “There’s a reason that dictators like Nguema or Afewerki are careful to stay away from things like justice and criminal courts entirely because it brings this kind of attention, which is really not a good thing for a healthy dictatorship.”

Reportedly Sylvester Stallone is considering a return to Burma for the next Rambo movie after shooting the last there. It’s not immediately clear if he will change the tone of that movie to more of a courtroom drama from its action roots. 

Emil Uliya, International Correspondent

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