New Delhi (Mizzima) – The United Nations Security Council on Thursday expressed “serious concern” over the conviction and sentencing of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and joined the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in calling for the release of all political prisoners.
“The members of the Security Council express serious concern at the conviction and sentencing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and its political impact,” said the statement read out by the Council’s rotating President British Ambassador John Sawers.
The statement from the Council, which came after two days of debate, also called for the release of all political prisoners.
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was found guilty on Tuesday by the special court in Rangoon’s Insein prison and sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour.
But minutes after the verdict, Burmese Home Minister intervened with a statement from the country’s military leader Snr Gen Than Shwe stating that the sentence of Aung San Suu Kyi and her two live-in party mates be reduced to half and allow them to serve as a suspended sentence in her lakeside home.
Members of the council, in the statement “note the decision of the Government of Myanmar [Burma] to reduce Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentence and urge the Government of Myanmar [Burma] to take further measures to create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all concerned parties and ethnic groups in order to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation.”
The council’s statement, according to reports, was made weaker in language from the original text drafted by the United States that “condemned” the verdict on Aung San Suu Kyi and “demanded” the junta to immediately release her.
The council, which held an emergency close-door meeting on Tuesday over the sentence of Aung San Suu Kyi, took two days before it could come out with a statement because, according to an earlier Security Council report, some members wanted to consult with their government on the text of the statement.
China and Russia, both veto wielding countries in the council, in the past had blocked strong-worded condemnation on Burma, saying the Burmese affair is an internal issue and does not pose international or regional security threat.
Reflecting this stand, the Council’s statement on Thursday said, “The members of the Security Council affirm their commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Myanmar, and in that context, reiterate that the future of Myanmar [Burma] lies in the hands of all its people.”
Meanwhile, the European Union, which has imposed economic sanctions on Burma’s military rulers since 1996, has added members of the judiciary responsible for the verdict on Aung San Suu Kyi to the existing list of persons and entities subject to a travel ban and to an assets freeze.
The list of persons and entities subject to the restrictive measures is extended to cover the assets freeze to enterprises that are owned and controlled by members of the regime in Burma/Myanmar or by persons or entities associated with them.
Aung San Suu Kyi, (64) has been under some form of detention for more than 13 of the past 19 years. And critics said, her latest detention of 18 months, is designed to keep her away from the junta’s planned elections in 2010.
While the Security Council, UN Chief and several other governments condemned the Burmese junta for sentencing the Nobel Peace Laureate, Burma’s neighbours including China, India and Thailand have made soft gestures of appreciation, indicating their views that the case in purely internal affairs of Burma.
