Burma: an appeal filed with the UN for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi
Former Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, already sentenced to six years in prison, received an additional five-year prison sentence for corruption © AFP
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The French François Zimeray, former French ambassador for human rights, has just seized the UN working group on the detention of the former Burmese stateswoman so that the United Nations recognizes the arbitrary nature of his detention.
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"
What I expect is for the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Notions to say the trial is unfair, the detention is arbitrary, and to urge Burma to release her
," demands François Zimeray interviewed by
Vincent Souriau,
from the international service of RFI.
“
So will they?
I do not know.
But what is certain is that resignation is not an option
.
»
With relatives of Aung Sang Suu Kyi and lawyer Jessica Finelle, François Zimeray filed a communication against the Burmese military junta on Wednesday May 25 at the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
This working group, made up of five independent experts, made headlines in 2016 by demanding the release of the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.
He has also repeatedly looked into the case of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Location unknown
Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, has been detained since the February 1, 2021 military coup that ended a decade of democratic transition in Burma.
The lawyers recall that she has been deprived of her freedom by the junta in an unknown location since the putsch.
She was recently
sentenced to an additional 5 years in prison
.
“
We want to denounce a real judicial kidnapping.
The Burmese military junta has decided to lock up Aung San Suu Kyi, to put her incommunicado, to give her a totally fanciful trial for reasons that are totally imaginary and this, in defiance of all justice
, ”describes François Zimeray.
For the lawyers of the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (1991), it is a tragic leap backwards for Burma.
Through the person of Aung Sang Suu Kyi, the democratic aspiration of the Burmese people is crushed.
The February 2021 coup plunged the country into chaos.
Nearly 1,800 civilians were killed by security forces and more than 13,000 arrested, according to a local NGO.
► To read also: Burma: the UN denounces "crimes against humanity" since the coup
Even if they are "non-executory", the decisions of the UN working group can have an impact, underlines Francois Zimeray.
“
I don't think the Burmese junta can be forever deaf to calls from the international community.
In any case, it is certainly not by abandoning him to the fate of his jailers and torturers that we will improve the situation.
»
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Burma
Aung San Suu Kyi