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With the arrival of the first anniversary of the seizure of military power in February 2021, sanctions by the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada arrive in the country, as well as the announcement of a new accusation against the dismissed political leader Aung San Suu Kyi by the Myanmar military junta.
The United States on Monday sanctioned top members of Myanmar’s judiciary and one of its main revenue-producing ports for human rights violations committed since the country’s coup last year.
The sanctions, announced by the Treasury and State Departments, against the country’s attorney general, chief justice and other officials, freeze assets they may have in US jurisdictions and prohibit Americans from doing business with them.
Sanctions that are imposed on the eve of the first anniversary of the seizure of power by the military in February 2021.
“One year after the coup, the United States, along with its allies in the UK and Canada, stands with the people of Myanmar in their quest for freedom and democracy… We will continue to pursue those responsible for the coup and ongoing violence, the enablers of the regime’s brutal repression, and those who support them financially,” the US Treasury Department announced in an official statement.
The Secretary General of the United Nations also expressed his support for the solution of the country’s democratic problems.
One year since Myanmar’s military overturned a democratically elected civilian Government, human rights & humanitarian crises continue to deepen.
the @A will continue to mobilize immediate action to address the desperate needs of the people of Myanmar. https://t.co/RmIT449Ihn
— Antonio Guterres (@antonioguterres) January 31, 2022
Accusations against Aung San Suu Kyi
This same Monday, a judicial official also announced that the trial against the dismissed civil leader Aung San Suu Kyi will begin on February 14 to know the sentence in one of the many charges faced by the former politician who accumulates combined maximum sentences of more than 150 years behind bars.
Suu Kyi has already been found guilty of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies and violating the restrictions imposed in the pandemic. This charge sentenced her to six years in prison.
The 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner also has an open judicial process for violation of the Official Secrets Law that could give her a maximum sentence of 14 years and five other cases, related to anti-corruption laws, which would entail a maximum sentence of 15 years each.
All this, without counting the other five charges of corruption of which she is being accused of granting permission to rent and buy a helicopter.
The convictions against Suu Kyi increasingly weaken her political party National League for Democracy (NLD) and could cause its dissolution, in addition to making it impossible for the former Burmese politician to participate in new elections that, according to the military, have announced would take place in 2023.
The Myanmar military arrested Suu Kyi when she took power in February 2021, claiming there was widespread voter fraud in the country’s last election.
In November last year, the state electoral commission, whose members were appointed by the military government, filed the formal accusation of electoral fraud against Suu Kyi, but these accusations have not been substantiated and several independent electoral observers have disqualified them.
Repressions since the coup
After the army takeover there were massive peaceful demonstrations, but after the protests were suppressed with lethal force, armed resistance by the Burmese people began.
According to the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners, the security forces have killed some 1,500 civilians and detained 11,838 since the military coup, but the government has been unable to suppress the insurgency that is active in both urban and rural areas. rural.
With the arrival of the anniversary of the coup d’état, opponents of the military regime have called for a “silent strike” with the aim of emptying the streets of the cities and towns of Myanmar from 10 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon and have invited citizens to stay at home and not open their businesses.
State media have reported that in the past week at least a dozen people have been detained by security forces as a preventive measure to suppress plans for Tuesday’s national strike.
“Those who participate in the silent protest will be punished according to these laws,” read a photo of a poster posted on social media listing prison sentences, which range from three to 20 years and point to high treason, disorderly conduct and telecommunications.
The new UN special envoy for Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer, urged this Monday to act so that the Burmese can aspire to a peaceful, democratic and inclusive future.
“A year after February 1, 2021, the violence and brutality in Burma has only intensified and expanded every day,” Heyzer told a virtual press conference at the United Nations headquarters, in which he warned of that the situation is increasingly unstable as military operations intensify.
Heyzer also denounced that there has been an increase to “unprecedented levels” of drug smuggling and manufacturing, human trafficking, and illegal mining and logging activities.
With EFE, AP and Reuters