Myanmar army sentences 19 protesters to death | Abroad

The convicts were found guilty of robbery and murder by a military court. Two of them were arrested in North Okkalapa in the east of the Yangon region. The area is in a state of emergency, which means that anyone arrested there is automatically brought to trial by a military tribunal. Seventeen others were not present at the trial because they are still on the run.

While the death penalty is permitted in Myanmar, the last time anyone was executed was over 30 years ago. “It shows that the junta is ready to return to a time when Myanmar imposed the death penalty on people,” said Phil Robertson of the Asian branch of the human rights organization Human Rights Watch. Because the trial takes place in a military court, suspects cannot appeal.

Purpose of death sentences

According to Robertson, the military’s goal is to deter protesters from taking to the streets and force them to return to work. Due to a national boycott, Myanmar’s economy is currently largely flat.

Since the coup d’état on February 1, in which government leader Aung San Suu Kyi was also arrested, things have been unrest in Myanmar. Security forces are said to have killed some 600 protesters so far. In the village of Bago, 65 kilometers from the city of Yangon, more than eighty protesters were reportedly killed on Friday alone. Inhabitants would flee en masse to nearby villages.

United Nations special envoy Christine Schraner Burgener arrived in neighboring Thailand last week in hopes of entering Myanmar and negotiating with the military to get out of the crisis. Until now she has not been admitted by the junta.

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