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Lawyer Pho Phyu, in his early
thirties,who is well known
for representing political
activists in various
trials across Burma, has been sentenced to four years
in prison for defending labour activists who blew the whistle on army seizures of farmland this year.
No official announcement of the sentencing has been made, but legal
sources close to the case said Pho Phyu was handed a four-year sentence on March, 17 for alleged links with
"illegal organizations" after a trial in which he was not
represented by a lawyer. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity for
fear of retaliation by the government.
Pho Phyu, well-known as a political activists' lawyer, is among a handful of lawyers who have defended
opposition and labour dissidents in the former Burma,
under military rule since 1962. He had been arrested by army units in Magwe Division
in Aung Lan township, on the evening, of
15 January 2009, on his way back to Yangon after
representing labor activists detained for reporting the seizure of farmland to the International Labour Organization (ILO). He was charged
under the Illegal
Association Act.
When arrested, Pho Phyu had gone to Aung Lan again
to deliver the necessary
documents and evidence relating
the case for a court hearing. Around 50 farmers reported to the International Labour Organisation
office in Rangoon in January, complaining that the army confiscated more than 5,000 acres of paddy fields
at Myetyeh-kan and Kyaung-ywalay villages in Natmauk township. Pho Phyu, had been requested by family members to represent four farmers who were arrested and detained when news of their visit to the ILO reached authorities. One of
the farmers, Zaw Htay from Aunglan, was sentenced to 10 years on 23
January with the
charge of leaking national secrets for taking photographs of confiscated farmlands.
Previously, Pho Phyu was briefly apprehended by authorities
and had his belongings searched on 1 January 2009, in Nat Mauk
township in Magwe when
he was preparing for an earlier hearing.
Lawyers defending political and human rights activists have been harassed and intimidated in
various ways. "They
are arresting defence
lawyers on one pretext
or another. These are
attempts to intimidate
and silence us," said Aung Thein, who
was recently freed after four months in jail. Pho Phyu is the fourth activist lawyer to be jailed as part of a wider crackdown on pro-democracy dissidents ahead
of the junta's promised
general elections in
2010. Young lawyer Nyi
Nyi Htway was sentenced to six months in jail by Rangoon
Hlaing township court in October with the charge of impeding
court procedures.
Another lawyer Kyaw Kyaw Min, who
was sentenced in
absentia, had fled to
the Thai-Burmese border. Lawyer Nyi Nyi Htwe,
27, remains in jail.(See : http://www.idhae.org/uk-page4.1.asia.burm2.htm
).
Two senior lawyers Aung Thein
and Khin Maung Shein both in their 60s, were each sentenced to four months' imprisonment last November for contempt of
court. They were released on 6 March. (See : http://www.idhae.org/uk-page4.1.asia.burm5.htm
).
According to the Thailand-based Assisting Association
for Political Prisoner
(Burma), there are a total of 2,128 prisoners
of conscience in Myanmar.In recent months, the junta has imprisoned
pro-democracy activists in an apparent attempt to clear away dissent
before elections promised for next year. Military courts have sentenced
hundreds of dissidents to prison terms of up to 104 years.The U.N. human rights envoy to Myanmar,
Tomas Ojea Quintana, called
on 17th March, for the immediate release of all
political prisoners
and urged the military
to stop using civilians
in forced labour.
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