Fourteen pro-democracy activists jailed for 65 years by Burmese court

A COURT in Burma sentenced 14 members of a well-known pro-democracy group to 65 years’ imprisonment each yesterday, relatives said.

The members of the 88 Generation Students group, including five women, were sentenced by a court in Yangon’s Insein Prison, they said.

“I heard from sources close to the prison that my son and 13 others were given 65-year prison sentences this morning in a closed-door trial,” said Nyunt Nyunt Oo, mother of 31-year-old Pandeik Tun, one of the 14. “No family members or defence lawyers were present at the trial.”

Many members of the 88 Generation Students were at the forefront of a 1988 pro-democracy uprising and were subjected to lengthy prison terms and torture after the rebellion was brutally suppressed by the military.

After they were freed, they resumed their political activities, and spearheaded open and legal protests against the military government.

Several of those sentenced yesterday played prominent roles in demonstrations leading up to last year’s mass protests, which were crushed by the ruling junta.

Most of them were arrested on August 21, 2007, along with other activists, for staging a street protest against a massive fuel-price hike, while others were arrested after the larger rallies led by Buddhist monks that were violently suppressed.

Nyunt Nyunt Oo said his son and others were sentenced under various charges including the so-called 5/96 law declaring that anyone who demonstrates, makes speeches or writes statements undermining stability will face up to 20 years in prison. She said the other charges involved the Video Act, the Foreign Exchange act, the Electronics Act and links with illegal groups.

Asked if she is going to appeal the verdict against her son, Nyunt Nyunt Oo said: “I don’t think any effort will make a difference because the judgement is one-sided and this was what the authorities had decided to do.”

She noted her son’s two defence lawyers are serving four-month prison sentences for contempt of court.

Nine other top-tier leaders of the 88 Generation Students who are facing various similar charges were recently given six months in prison each for interrupting judicial proceedings during their closed trial.

According to UN estimates, at least 31 people were killed when the army violently suppressed last year’s protests. Thousands of demonstrators were detained and many fled the country or went underground.