Seven Buddhists get three to 15 years in prison for last March violence, which left 43 people dead and another12,000 displaced. Convicted on similar charges, a Muslim gets a life sentence. For the court, the ruling is based on "eyewitness accounts" and are "in accordance with the law".

Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) - A court has sentenced seven Burmese Buddhists to prison terms ranging between 3 and 15 years in prison for their involvement in a massacre that took place in an Islamic school on 21 March. The incident resulted in dozens of victims, students and teachers. By contrast, a Muslim man accused of a murder that took place at the time of the attack got life in prison. This shows once more, that justice in Myanmar has a double standard when it comes to the ongoing sectarian violence between Muslims and Buddhists.

Following sectarian clashes in Meikhtila, central Myanmar, on 20 and 21 March, 24 Buddhists and 5 Muslims were convicted for their involvement in the violent incident that left 43 people dead and 12,000 homeless, mostly Muslims.

So far, few Buddhists have been tried and convicted for anti-Rohingya attacks in the western state of Rakhine, which has caused more than 250 deaths and displaced more 140,000 people.

Buddhist extremist groups were responsible for the attack against the Mingalar Zayone Islamic Boarding School, which they set on fire, before going on a rampage against shops, mosques and other Muslim-owned businesses.

As the police stood idly by, the mob attacked defenceless people, many of whom children, with machetes, chains and stones.

During the trial, the court was harsher with Muslim defendants, using a lenient hand with the real authors and sponsors of the incident.

In response to critics, the court said that they relied on "eyewitness accounts" in accordance with the law without any discrimination for or against "any group".

Myanmar has been racked by violent ethnic-religious unrest pitting majority Buddhists against minority Muslims, especially in the western state of Rakhine, on the border with Bangladesh, where Rohingya Muslims have come under intense repression, accused of being illegal immigrants.

Since the June 2012 killing of a Buddhist woman, fights have broken out, people have been assaulted and targeted attacks have taken place, causing hundreds of deaths and displacing thousands more, amid the indifference if not the complicity of the government, police and the military (the real power brokers in the country).

• myanmar
• rakhine
• state
• trial
• muslims
• buddhist
• offenders
• light
• sentences