Bachelet says that “this cruel and retrograde step is an extension of the repressive campaign of the Army against its own people”
July 26 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has condemned the execution of four opponents by the military junta in Burma, including a former parliamentarian, and has called for the “immediate release” of those “arbitrarily detained”, including the former ‘de facto’ leader Aung San Suu Kyi and former President Win Myint.
“The (UN) Secretary-General strongly condemns the executions carried out over the weekend by the Burmese Army against four political activists in Burma — Phyo Zeya Thaw, Kyaw Min Yu (Ko Jimmy), Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw — and offers his condolences to their families,” Guterres’ deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.
Thus, he stressed that Guterres “opposes the imposition of the death penalty in all circumstances” and added that “these executions, the first carried out in Burma since 1988, mark a deterioration of an already bad Human Rights environment ” in the Asian country.
For her part, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has been “shocked” by the fact that the executions have been carried out “despite calls from around the world.” “The Army has carried out these executions in disregard of Human Rights”, she has criticized.
“This cruel and retrograde step is an extension of the Army’s repressive campaign against its own people,” he said, before emphasizing that “these executions, the first in decades in Burma, are cruel violations of the rights to life, liberty and security of a person, as well as guarantees of a fair trial”.
“That the Army expands its murders will only deepen its involvement in the crisis it has created,” said Bachelet, who has warned that “more than 30 percent of the more than 2,100 people killed since (the coup d’état in) February of 2021 have died in Army custody, most of them as a result of mistreatment”.
In this regard, he stressed that “the Army seems little concerned with putting an end to the crisis or reducing the violence, in line with its international obligations, not to mention any kind of will to respect due process, justice or the State of Law”, for which he has called on neighboring countries and the international community to hold the coup plotters accountable.
The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has joined the condemnations, who has spoken of “reprehensible acts of violence that exemplify the regime’s total disregard for Human Rights and the rule of law.” “Since the February 2021 coup, the regime has perpetuated violence against its own people, killing more than 2,100 people, displacing more than 700,000, and detaining thousands of innocent people, including members of civil society and journalists.”
“The sham trials of the regime and these executions are blatant attempts to extinguish democracy. These actions will never suppress the spirit of the brave people of Burma,” Blinken said in a statement, stressing that “the United States joins the people of Burma in their quest for freedom and democracy and calls on the regime to respect the democratic aspirations of the people, who have shown that they do not want to live another day under the tyranny of military rule”.
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