Myanmar: Secretive military courts sentence scores of people to death 

Unsplash/Gayatri Malhotra Protestors take to the streets in Washington, DC, in the United States, calling for an end to violence in Myanmar.

“The military continues to hold proceedings in secretive courts in violation of basic principles of fair trial and contrary to core judicial guarantees of independence and impartiality”, Volker Türk added, calling for the suspension of all executions and a return to a moratorium on death penalty. 

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Dealing out death  

On Wednesday, a military court sentenced at least seven university students to death.  

“Military courts have consistently failed to uphold any degree of transparency contrary to the most basic due process or fair trial guarantees”, underscored Mr. Türk.  

Meanwhile, on Thursday, reports revealed that as many as four additional death sentences were being issued against youth activists.  

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) is currently seeking clarification on those cases. 

No justice 

In July, the military carried out four State executions – the first in approximately 30 years.  

Despite calls from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the international community to desist, a former lawmaker, a democracy activist, and two others, were put to death. 

Close to 1,700 detainees out of the nearly 16,500 who have been arrested for opposing last year’s military’s coup have been tried and convicted in secret by ad hoc tribunals, sometimes lasting just minutes.  

They have frequently been denied access to lawyers or their families and none have been acquitted. 

The latest convictions would bring the total number of people sentenced to capital punishment since 1 February 2021 to 139 individuals. 

Unaligned with ASEAN 

Mr. Türk reminded that the military’s actions are not in keeping with the ASEAN peace plan, known as the five-point consensus – that includes the “immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar” – which the regional bloc had re-committed to upholding last month during the ASEAN summit. 

At the summit, Secretary-General António Guterres had warned that the political, security, human rights and humanitarian situation in Myanmar was “sliding ever deeper into catastrophe”, condemning the escalating violence, disproportionate use of force, and “appalling human rights situation” in the country.    

“By resorting to use death sentences as a political tool to crush opposition, the military confirms its disdain for the efforts by ASEAN and the international community at large to end violence and create the conditions for a political dialogue to lead Myanmar out of a human rights crisis created by the military” the UN human rights chief spelled out.