Bangkok: Myanmar's military-installed government has sentenced more critics to death, bringing the total to 139, according to the UN high commissioner for human rights, and using the death penalty as a weapon to suppress opposition.
At least seven college students were sentenced to death on Wednesday, according to High Commissioner Volker Turk, and there are rumors that four additional youth activists could receive similar sentences on Thursday.
Turki said in a statement that the military "continues to conduct proceedings in secret courts in violation of fundamental standards of fair trial and contrary to core judicial guarantees of independence and impartiality."
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Military courts have repeatedly failed to maintain any level of transparency, in violation of the most fundamental guarantees of due process and a fair trial.
In February last year, the army overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Following military intervention, several peaceful protests were suppressed with lethal force, sparking an armed resistance that some UN experts have named a civil war.
Turki claimed that around 16,500 people have been detained for resisting the military takeover by the military-installed government, including around 1,700 who have been found guilty in secret courts without the benefit of a lawyer.
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A military court at Yangon's Inseon prison sentenced seven university students aged 18 to 24 who were detained on April 21, posts posted on Facebook by the student union of Dagan University, the largest city, on Wednesday According to a statement given. Nation.
Western nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations condemned the executions, and ASEAN attempted to diffuse the situation with a five-point plan, which the military government has so far failed to fulfill.
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Turk said, "Turning to the use of the death penalty as a political tool to crush the opposition, the military laid the framework for a political dialogue by ASEAN and the larger international community to end the violence and lead Myanmar." reaffirms its disdain for efforts to do so. about the human rights crisis created by the military."