A member of the National League for Democracy is sentenced to two years in prison for defamation. Myanmar ambassador to the United Nations announces an upcoming amnesty for prisoners, but does not specify how many or whether Aung San Suu Kyi is included. UN secretary general reports to Security Council about his diplomatic mission to Myanmar.

Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Kyaw Khaing, 87, a member of Burma’s opposition National League for Democracy, was sentenced to two years in prison on defamation charges. The verdict arrived on the same day that Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations, Than Swe, announced that his government “is processing to grant amnesty to prisoners”. He did not however say how many would benefit from the measure.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Myanmar envoy that Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners should be released if the regime wants the 2010 election to be “credible.”

Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), a dissident Burmese website, today reported that Kyaw Khaing, chairman of the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) in Taungok township (Arakan State), was sent to prison.

During the trial the elderly leader, who is in declining health, was denied medical care. On several occasions he slipped “in and out of consciousness” inside the courtroom.

Local activists said that he “has been suffering from dysentery for the last three to four days”. Given his conditions he had to be supported [on the way] to the court.”

In the end the judges showed no mercy, sentencing him to two years in prison for defamation.

Such an act of repression contradicts what Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations Than Swe announced yesterday, namely that his government would “grant amnesty to prisoners on humanitarian grounds [. . .] with a view to enabling them to participate in the 2010 general elections.”

He did not, however, explicitly say which prisoners would benefit from the amnesty or whether Aung San Suu Kyi would be included. The NLD leader is currently in prison and on trial.

Ban yesterday reported to the 15-member Security Council about his visit to Myanmar, calling it a major lost opportunity for the junta to set the stage for the country’s democratisation. 

The secretary general said he conveyed his main expectations “in the clearest terms”. They include free and fair elections and the release of all political prisoners.

When Ban Ki-moon was in Myanmar, the ruling junta did not allow him to meet the Nobel Peace laureate. According to state media he was not authorised to meet Aung San Suu Kyi because this would have influenced the court called to pass judgement on her.

For their part members of the National League for Democracy have already pointed out that UN missions to Myanmar have been a “failure” and they remain sceptical about the chances of opposition members being released this time around.

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