Myanmar: UN reports on seven students sentenced to death

At least seven students were sentenced to death in Myanmarwith the UN claiming that the tally of prisoners expected to be executed has risen to 139.

As reported by APE-MPE, those convictions were announced Wednesday behind closed doors trial of at least seven students before a military court, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement.

“By using death sentences as a political tool to suppress the opposition, the military reaffirms its contempt for efforts by ASEAN and the international community as a whole to end the violence and create conditions for political dialogue”Turk complained, referring to the efforts of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to restore peace in Myanmar.

According to local media, the students from Yangon were arrested in April and accused of being involved in a shooting incident in a bank.

“Imposing the death penalty against students is an act of revenge on the part of the military”the student union of Dagon University complained.

The UN also said it was investigating reports that four more young activists were sentenced to death on Thursday.

“The military continues to hold trials in secret courts in violation of fundamental fair trial principles”Turk emphasized.

According to him, trials in these secret courts often last a few minutes and often the accused have no access to a lawyer or contact with their families.

The new death sentences were announced after the July execution of four people, including former lawmaker Pio Zeya Tao and pro-democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu. These were the first executions in Myanmar in thirty years.

The country has been plunged into chaos since the military overthrew the government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

According to a local organization, nearly 2,280 civilians have been killed and 11,637 imprisoned as part of the military’s crackdown on all forms of opposition.