Sunday, December 28, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

The Latpadaung Mine Story

Posted: 28 Dec 2014 01:13 AM PST

The ongoing conflict of the Latpadaung mine project claimed its first life on 22 December when local villager Khin Win was shot dead during a protest.

This DVB documentary examines the issues behind the protest and clashes with the police surrounding the controversial mining project.

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The post The Latpadaung Mine Story appeared first on DVB Multimedia Group.

Mandalay protestors call for justice in Latpadaung

Posted: 27 Dec 2014 11:10 PM PST

More than 500 protestors, led by Buddhist monks, marched through the streets of central Mandalay to the Chinese consulate on Saturday, to denounce the killing of villager Khin Win at the site of the Latpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Division, a project jointly run by China's state-backed mining firm Wanbao.

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The protestors were shouting slogans such as "We don’t want U Paing!' [Wanbao's Burmese partner Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings], and "Hold those guilty to account!" said Moe Htet Nay, an activist from the All Burma Federation of Student Unions.

Police blocked the demonstrators from reaching the Chinese consulate, said a DVB reporter covering the event. He said that, after unsuccessfully negotiating with police representatives, the crowd turned around and headed to Mandalay's central railway station where they continued the rally.

He said that alongside Buddhist monks were activists, students and members of civil society organisations.

A public protest against the fatal shooting was also held in Prome, officially known as Pyay.

The post Mandalay protestors call for justice in Latpadaung appeared first on DVB Multimedia Group.

Buddha ‘insult’ was honest mistake, Blackwood tells court

Posted: 27 Dec 2014 10:25 PM PST

New Zealander Phil Blackwood told a Rangoon court on Friday that he posted an image of the Buddha on his nightclub's Facebook page as a promotional item for his business and that he had no intention of insulting the Buddhist religion.

“I am not guilty as I honestly posted it without knowing this problem could occur," said Blackwood, the general manager of VGastro, a newly opened bar-restaurant in Rangoon's Bahan Township. "I had no intention at all of insulting religion."

The New Zealander's comments were read out in Burmese by a judge.

Blackwood, along with fellow nightclub managers Tun Thurein and Htut Ko Ko Lwin, has been charged under Penal Code articles 295, 295(a) and 188.

Under Burma's Religion Act – article 295 – anyone who attempts to insult, destroy or damage any religion can be sentenced to a maximum of two years in jail, with another two years for insulting religion through the written word.

The Penal Code lists Article 188 as "Disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant", and is generally used as a public indecency offence.

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Meanwhile, Blackwood's lawyer, Mya Thwe, claims he has received death threats though social media. He told reporters outside Bahan Township court on Friday that he had been threatened on Facebook for defending the trio.

Four other lawyers had previously turned down the defendants on the basis that the case was "too sensitive".

The two other defendants, Htun Thurein and Htut Ko Ko Lwin, both Burmese, are due in court on 2 January.

International rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have slammed the decision to indict the three on religious offences, and have called for all charges to be dropped.

However, several Burmese Buddhist groups are calling for severe punishments to be handed down, including the Association of Protection of Race and Religion, commonly known as the ma-ba-tha, a fundamentalist Buddhist organisation closely associated with extremist monk Wirathu's 969 movement.

The post Buddha 'insult' was honest mistake, Blackwood tells court appeared first on DVB Multimedia Group.

‘We got drunk, then went home to sleep’, Koh Tao suspects tell judge

Posted: 27 Dec 2014 09:16 PM PST

The trial of two Burmese migrants accused of rape and murder got underway on the Thai island of Koh Samui on Friday with the pair reiterating their plea of innocence.

Nakhon Chompuchat, the leading lawyer on the defence team representing Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, both 21, from Arakan State in western Burma, said that the judge asked the suspects if they committed the crimes and, if not, if they knew who did.

“To the first question they answered, 'We did not', and then the judge asked again; 'Do you know who did it? If you know, please tell me'. The young men replied that they did not. 'On that night, we got drunk and then went home to sleep', they said. The judge asked the question once again, and added: 'Don't be afraid to tell me'. Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun responded that it was just as they had said."

Speaking in October, Aung Myo Thant, a Burmese lawyer contracted by the Burmese embassy in Bangkok, said that the suspects maintained they had been playing guitar and drinking beer on Sairee Beach on Koh Tao on the night that two British tourists, David Miller and Hannah Witheridge, were bludgeoned to death in a nearby cove.

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He said the pair had confessed to the crimes after an interrogation by Thai police that included physical abuse and threats to "burn them alive".

Nakhon, a well-known human rights attorney in Thailand, said that both the prosecutor and defence presented witness lists to the Koh Samui court on Friday.

He said the prosecution presented a list of 60 witnesses while the defence has more than 30 witnesses. He said the questioning of witnesses is due to begin in July.

Andy Hall, a migrant workers advocate who was at court on Friday, told DVB: "The two young men looked buoyed by the sight of so many supporters – from the Myanmar embassy, their parents, monks, Rakhine [Arakanese] organisations, as well as the presence of five defence lawyers. However, they said they were dreading spending the next seven months in prison [until the trial formally begins]."

The post 'We got drunk, then went home to sleep', Koh Tao suspects tell judge appeared first on DVB Multimedia Group.
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