AFP
Two more people have died under suspicious circumstances while undergoing interrogation by security forces in Myanmar, bringing to 32 the total number of such deaths since the military seized power in a coup d’état six months ago.
In nearly all the cases, authorities have blamed the deaths on COVID-19, despite markings on the bodies of decedents that are consistent with torture. Family members have also been given limited access to view the remains of their loved ones before they are cremated or buried.
The latest to die in police custody was Htet Ko Oo, who was arrested on July 19 in connection with the bombing of the Shwe Nandaw (Golden Palace) jewelry shop in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon. The July 8 incident was the second in less than a month targeting a business owned by Thet Thet Khine, the junta’s minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement.
AP Photo
Myanmar’s junta broke the law in arresting Aung San Suu Kyi on the day it orchestrated a coup d’état, and its leadership should face trial for this, according to one of the country’s most prominent lawyers, who urged authorities to drop charges against the former State Counselor and set her free.
Aung San Suu Kyi, ousted and arrested with other top political leaders during the coup by the Myanmar military on Feb. 1, faces seven charges, including sedition, which her lawyers say are trumped-up offenses to discredit her. Ex-president Win Myint also has been charged with sedition.
AFP
Families of the victims of a brutal crackdown on anti-junta protests in Myanmar are calling on the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute those responsible for the death or dismemberment of their loved ones.
On Feb. 1, the military overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected government, claiming voter fraud had led to a landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party in the country’s November 2020 election. The junta has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has violently suppressed nationwide demonstrations calling for a return to civilian rule, killing nearly 900 people over the past five months.
Hannah Beech, The New York Times
Published: 03 Jul 2021 10:49 AM BdST
Updated: 03 Jul 2021 10:49 AM BdST “The case is lost but the cause is won,” says U Khin Maung Zaw, a human rights lawyer in Myanmar who is representing Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. TWITTER
During his decades as a lawyer in Myanmar, Khin Maung Zaw has lost nearly all of his cases. It is a record that fills him with pride. );
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“My motto, and the motto of human rights lawyers in Myanmar, is simple,” he said. “The case is lost, but the cause is won.”
Khin Maung Zaw, 73, is now representing yet another client who is unlikely to receive a fair trial: Aung San Suu Kyi, the 76-year-old civilian leader of Myanmar whose elected government was toppled by an army coup in February.
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