Friday, December 13, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Pardoned activists return to their cells

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 03:35 AM PST

Htin Kyaw and Aye Thein, two of the 41 jailed activists who were granted a presidential amnesty on 11 December, were back behind bars within hours for remaining charges.

Htin Kyaw, who was serving a two and a half year sentence in Rangoon's Insein prison, was released on Wednesday only to be thrown back in detention on an additional sedition charge, according to his wife Than Than Maw.

"My husband arrived at the North Okkalapa township court on Wednesday to receive a pardon warrant," she said, "and the judge insisted he apply for bail for another charge under Penal Code article-505(b). He was sent back to detention until the next court hearing because he wasn't allowed to post bail without his [three] co-defendants."

The pardon of labour activist Aye Thein, sentenced to one year and three months in jail last June for assisting vendors in last year's protest against the proposed relocation of Kidan market in Mandalay, was similarly reneged. According to Aye Thein's colleague, Amar Ni, he was immediately put back in his cell and is now facing two additional charges, one for sedition and another as yet unverified.

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"He was granted amnesty for the market protest charges, but then he was kept in prison for two additional charges; one was for assisting farmers," said Amar Ni, afterwards remarking on the irony of charging freshly pardoned activists.

"We can see that both the government's policy and system are yet to change – they take credit for releasing political prisoners, they pledge that there won't be any left, but then they just keep arresting them again," she said. "Daw Naw Ohn Hla is back in prison and so is Ko Aye Thein in Mandalay – the government is still committing human rights violations."

Naw Ohn Hla, the well known anti-Latpadaung Copper Mine activist, has bounced in and out of courts on various charges related to her political activity, and is currently detained awaiting trial on charges for 'religious offences' she allegedly committed in 2007.

Many of the prisoners pardoned on Wednesday, including Htin Kyaw, were originally charged under Article 18, Burma's controversial Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Processions Law, which outlaws public gatherings of five or more people without prior permission from authorities.

Rights advocates have argued that President Thein Sein's pledge to free all political prisoners by the year's end and the government's subsequent series of amnesties are undermined by the endemic use of the law to prosecute protestors.

This week's presidential amnesty was granted on the same day as the opening of the 27th SEA Games in Naypyidaw, a regional sports championship that drew hordes of foreign visitors and catapulted Burma into the international spotlight.

KIA denies abducting Red Shan villagers

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 01:10 AM PST

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has denied allegations by the Taileng (Red Shan) Nationalities Development Party (TNDP) that dozens of ethnic Red Shan villagers were abducted by KIA troops in northern Burma's Kachin state.

The TNDP claimed that the KIA's 12th Battalion in Mansi township, where conflict continues between the KIA and the Burmese Army, rounded up around 60 Red Shan villagers and forced them to join the rebel army. The party's chairman Htay Aung said that the TNDP has obtained the names and details of 40 villagers abducted.

"The [KIA] troops came, armed and in uniform. We know it was them. Some relatives of abducted villagers went to the base to try to bring their loved ones back, but they were also detained when they got there," said Htay Aung.

"We understand that they are at war, but that doesn't justify abducting civilians."

The villagers say they requested assistance from Burmese Army soldiers stationed in the area on 4 December, but the troops refused, claiming that they cannot take action without orders from senior command.

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On 11 December, the TNDP sent a letter to the government's peace negotiator, President's Office Minister Aung Min, requesting immediate action on the issue, but they have yet to receive a reply.

KIA spokesman Dau Hka rejected the allegation when he spoke with DVB on Thursday, insisting that KIA soldiers do not abduct and forcibly conscript villagers. He added that they have always been willing to resolve issues face to face with the Shan ethnic population in the region.

"The local Shan people always come to talk with us when there is a situation. We always respond to them appropriately – they [TNDP] are talking nonsense to the media – we always stay on good terms with the Shan people, and we resolve issues with them directly," said Dau Hka.

The Taileng make up about 100,000 of the 1.2m population in Kachin state. The TNDP announced in late October that the party was conducting a region-wide survey to expose alleged human rights violations committed by the KIA against the Taileng people.

More land fenced off at Latpadaung, locals devastated

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 09:26 PM PST

Over 50 residents from eight villages in Monywa, Saigang division, were left devastated after authorities fenced up over 300 acres of farmland that falls within the Latpadaung Mining Project area.

The residents have been refusing compensation for land taken from them to make way for the expansion of the mining project.

"In total 11.54 acres of my farmland was fenced up and now I have lost all hope," said Yi Yi Win from Sete village.

"They bulldozed my bean and sesame crops, dumped the soil on the land and sprayed it with some kind of acid."

Operations resumed at the controversial copper mine in October and authorities began bulldozing land, causing residents to renew their protests.

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Recommendations by the Latpadaung Investigation Commission, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, suggested that mine operators should create 1900 acres of farmland elsewhere, to substitute the residents' lost land.

But this has not happened.

"Aung San Suu Kyi when she was here said we are allowed to turn down compensation and relocation of our villages," said Amar Kyi from Sete village.

"So we decided to refuse compensation and not relocate our village, but despite this, they confiscated our land by force."

The residents do not want to give up the land because they have been farming it for generations. Yi Yi Win said that without it, they will have nothing to pass on to their children.

"The money they are compensating won't be enough to survive on and it will leave our children with nothing to rely on. This is why we just want the land but not the money.”

The Latpadaung implementation committee revealed last month that a US$1.68 million budget has been allocated for regional development, including programmes of job creation for locals; education; healthcare; electricity supply; supplying potable water; and transportation.
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