Burmese Protest at Phnom Penh Embassy

(Photo: DAP news)

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
27 May 2009

Around 50 human rights advocates and Burmese citizens demonstrated in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Phnom Penh Wednesday, calling for the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The peaceful demonstration coincided with a meeting of Asean foreign affairs ministers.

“We expect this meeting will discuss Aung San Suu Kyi’s case, and we are pushing the Burmese government to release not only Suu Kyi but also to release 2,000 political prisoners,” said Kek Galabru, president of rights group Licadho.

Police barred protesting from coming too close to the embassy, where they had planned to submit a petition. A police official accepted the petition without the presence of an embassy official instead.

Suu Kyi has been in detention for 13 of the past 19 years. The military junta in Burma, now called Myanmar, is conducting a hearing to decide whether her house arrest will be extended, following the bizarre visit of a US man to her home earlier this month.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the detention of the Nobel laureate was not on the agenda for Asean ministers.

EU-ASEAN summit to kick off

Homeless people, like those pictured, have been targetted by authorities ahead of today's ASEAN-EU summit. (Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG)

Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Written by Sebastian Strangio and Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

Observers call on delegates to address trial of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

DELEGATIONS from 40 European Union and ASEAN countries are to gather in Phnom Penh today for the 17th EU-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, an event likely to be overshadowed by the ongoing trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar.

According to a statement released Tuesday by the delegation for the European Commission in Cambodia, the meeting will focus on strengthening inter-regional cooperation on security, economic and social issues. It will also include discussions of other issues of "mutual concern" such as the global economic crisis, food and energy security, counterterrorism, transnational crime and the environment.

"The EU and ASEAN are two successful examples of regional integration in the world," Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European commissioner for external relations, was quoted as saying.

"I look forward to an ambitious agenda for joint action being agreed at the Ministerial Meeting."

Looming over the summit, however, is the fate of pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, whose trial in Myanmar has now entered its second week. She faces up to five years in jail on charges of violating her house arrest after an incident in which an American man swam to her
lakeside house in central Yangon.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said the issue was not on the formal agenda for the summit, but added the situation could change as the meetings unfold.

"I cannot speculate on any issue concerning Myanmar. It depends on the point of view of the co-chairs once the sessions take place," he said, referring to Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, who are to chair the meeting.

More than 40 foreign ministers from Asia and Europe meeting in Hanoi this week jointly called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, according to a statement issued at the conclusion of the ASEM meeting on Tuesday.

"In light of the concern about the recent development to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, ministers ... called for the early release of those under detention and the lifting of restrictions placed on political parties," the statement said.

Ministers have agreed to a text that "makes specific reference to the release of political prisoners and particularly Aung San Suu Kyi", British junior foreign minister Bill Rammell said.

During a meeting with Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win on the sidelines of the talks Monday, the EU also made its own calls for Aung San Suu Kyi's "immediate release".

Possibility of talks

Rafael Dochao Moreno, charge d'affairs of the delegation of the European Commission to Cambodia, said he could not comment on whether EU delegates would raise the issue in formal proceedings during the Phnom Penh talks, which generally do not address bilateral issues.

"ASEAN AND EU LEADERS HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO KICK START... THE RESUMPTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS."

"In the formal agenda, there is nothing on specific countries," he said.

"This is a multilateral meeting ... and individual issues are not, in principle, part of the agenda."

But he added that the Aung San Suu Kyi trial could force itself into sideline talks between delegates this evening.

"I can't imagine the EU and ASEAN ministers not discussing Myanmar under the present circumstances," Moreno said.

In a joint statement released Tuesday, the Sam Rainsy Party and Human Rights Party backed the call, saying Aung San Suu Kyi's trial should be on the agenda at the summit.

"ASEAN and EU leaders have an opportunity to kick-start national reconciliation and the resumption of the democratic process in Myanmar," said the statement, made on behalf of 29 opposition parliamentarians.

"We urge you to seize this opening."

Sok Sam Oeun, chairman of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, agreed, saying that "in order to develop democracy in ASEAN, it is better for the ASEAN ministers to discuss [Aung San Suu Kyi]".

Long-time prisoner
The opposition icon took the stand at her trial Tuesday as the Myanmar junta defied international outrage by threatening to extend her house arrest even if she is not convicted.

Aung San Suu Kyi said that she did not violate the terms of her house arrest by offering "temporary shelter" to a US man who swam to her lakeside home.

She was testifying for the first time at the maximum security Insein prison in Yangon, in a case which has drawn widespread international condemnation of the country's iron-fisted military junta.

"I didn't," the 63-year-old replied when a judge asked her whether she had breached the restriction order keeping her at her residence, according to reporters and diplomats present at the hearing.

She said the first she knew of the bizarre visit by American army veteran John Yettaw was when her assistant woke her up at around dawn on May 4 to tell her that a man had arrived at the house.

"I did not inform them," she said when asked by the judge whether she had told Myanmar's military authorities about the intrusion.

Aung San Suu Kyi was also asked about claims that she had given Yettaw food and let him stay at the house, replying: "I allowed him to have temporary shelter."

In a surprise development, Myanmar authorities informed Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday morning that her six-year period of house arrest was officially over - although she still remains in detention at the prison, her party said.

"We don't know whether we should be happy or sad, because she is still in detention on these charges," said Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD).

"I cannot guess the verdict but according to the law, she should be completely free."

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained for 13 of the last 19 years, since the junta prevented her party from forming a government following its landslide victory in elections in 1990.

Aung San Suu Kyi's Washington-based international counsel, Jared Genser, said Tuesday that a UN panel had already found that extending her house arrest would be illegal under both international and Myanmar law.

The junta is also trying Yettaw and two female aides who live with Aung San Suu Kyi in her house. Yettaw has said that he swam across a lake to the house to warn her of a vision he had that she would be assassinated.

Protesters call for Suu Kyi's release as EU-ASEAN meeting starts

Wed, 27 May 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - Dozens of rights activist gathered outside the Myanmar embassy in Cambodia on Wednesday to demand the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as a meeting of European and South-East Asian foreign ministers began in Phnom Penh. The protesters urged the ministers to expel Myanmar from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) unless Suu Kyi and other political prisoners were released immediately.

Sok Sam Oeun, chairman of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, said the 17th Annual EU-ASEAN meeting presented an opportunity for European and South-East Asian leaders to use political and economic leverage against Myanmar.

"We support the European Union and the Thai government, the ASEAN secretariat, in their expression of grave concern for the Myanmar Government's actions," he said. "But there needs to be stronger action taken and Myanmar needs to be expelled from the EU."

The protest came on the sixth anniversary of Suu Kyi's arrest on charges of threatening national security and the beginning of her detention in her home-cum-prison.

She is currently facing trial in Yangon for allegedly violating the terms of her detention by allowing US national John William Yettaw to swim to her lakeside compound on May 3 and stay there until May 6.

No formal discussions on the trial have been scheduled for the two-day meeting in Phnom Penh, but Cambodian Foreign Ministry officials said earlier this week that some delegates were likely to urge Myanmar to release Suu Kyi.

Foreign ministers from 40 countries held private talks Wednesday and will be welcomed by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at an opening ceremony Thursday.

Activists demand Aung San Suu Kyi's release in Phnom Penh

Myanmar nationals protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh May 27, 2009. Some 60 activists demonstrated outside the embassy to urge the Myanmar government to release the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Myanmar activist holds a portrait of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh May 27, 2009. Some 60 activists demonstrated outside the embassy to urge the Myanmar government to release the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Activist from Myanmar holds a portrait of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh May 27, 2009. Some 60 activists demonstrated outside the embassy to urge the Myanmar government release the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Myanmar national holds a portrait of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh May 27, 2009. Some 60 activists demonstrated outside the embassy to urge the Myanmar government to release the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Myanmar national holds a portrait of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh May 27, 2009. Some 60 activists demonstrated outside the embassy to urge the Myanmar government to release the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Activists in Cambodia urge release of Suu Kyi

Wed, May 27, 2009

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Rights activists demanded freedom for Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday, ahead of a series of meetings between European Union and Southeast Asian ministers in Cambodia.

Dozens of Western, Myanmar and Cambodian rights campaigners demonstrated at the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh, urging ministers to pressure the ruling junta to release the opposition leader and other political prisoners.

"We are asking ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) that is meeting with the EU (European Union) to raise this issue to be discussed during the meeting," said Kek Galabru, president of a local rights group.

"ASEAN must push for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi," she added. Asian and European foreign ministers on Tuesday called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other Myanmar political prisoners after two days of Asia-Europe meetings in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

She is on trial in military-ruled Myanmar where she faces up to five years in jail on charges of violating her house arrest after an incident in which an American man swam to her house.

Representatives from the EU and the 10-member ASEAN were scheduled to attend a welcome dinner Wednesday evening, ahead of Thursday meetings intended to focus mainly on cooperation between the two regions amid the global financial crisis.

"According to the official agenda of the meeting, they will not discuss about issues of any specific country," Cambodia's foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong told AFP.

"We don't know whether the ministers will raise the issue of Myanmar to be discussed or not. If they do, it will be an unofficial agenda," he added.

Several local diplomats, however, told AFP they expected Myanmar to be at the forefront of discussions.

Myanmar's treatment of prisoners, along with North Korea's recent nuclear test, dominated much of the agenda during Hanoi's ministerial meetings this week.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been in detention for 13 of the past 19 years since her National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory in 1990 polls but was not allowed to take power.

The Nobel laureate took the stand for the first time on Tuesday in her trial at Yangon's notorious Insein jail and argued she had not violated the terms of her house arrest.

Opposition MPs' letter to ASEAN-EU Minsters regarding securing Aung San Suu Kyi's release

26 May 2009

Honorable Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union,

Re: ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meetings must secure Aung San Suu Kyi’s release

Welcome to all of you to the Kingdom of Cambodia. May I take this opportunity to commend you on your efforts in raising the issue of Myanmar, and Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention and trial, in your various capacities thus far.

We, Members of Parliament from Cambodia, call upon you as ASEAN-EU Ministers who are meeting in Phnom Penh on 27 and 28 May to take urgent action to secure the freedom of Myanmar’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s call for national reconciliation, via diplomats who met her at her trial last week, proves that there is still much hope for positive change in Myanmar. However, for this to materialise, she and her fellow incarcerated leaders must be free to engage with military leaders.

ASEAN and the EU can help make this happen.

Further to that, countries from ASEAN and the EU, in particular Cambodia may want to host a meeting of all leaders in Myanmar along with representatives from nations who have a stake and role in Myanmar, such as the US, China, Japan, India, and even Russia. This meeting of leaders will be crucial in seeking a solution to the situation in Myanmar.

While you are here, we would like you to encourage our Prime Minister, Samdach Hun Sen, to offer Cambodia as a venue on such a meeting of international leaders.

ASEAN and EU leaders have an opportunity to kick start national reconciliation, and the resumption of democratic process, in Myanmar. We urge you to seize this opening.

Yours truly,
MP Son Chhay

On behalf of MPs.

MP Sam Rainsy; MP Mu Sochua; MP Tioulong Saumura; MP Yem Ponhearith
MP Kem Sokha; MP Ou Chanrith; MP Mao Munyvann; MP Cheam Channy
MP Kimsour Phirith; MP Yim Sovann; MP Eng Chhai Eang; MP Chiv Cata
MP Thak Lany; MP Ho Van; MP Ly Srey Vyna; MP Yont Tharo
MP Chan Cheng; MP Khim Laky; MP Pot Pov; MP Nuth Rumduol
MP Men Sothavarin; MP Khy Vandeth; MP Long Ry; MP Chea Poch
MP Kong Bora; MP Kuoy Bunroeun; MP Tok Vanchan; MP Ke Sovannaroth

CC:

• Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
• All Foreign Embassies in Phnom Penh

Aung San Suu Kyi Must Be Released: Opposition MPs

Phnom Penh May 20, 2009

"AUNG SAN SUU KYI MUST BE RELEASED"

We, the Cambodian Members of Parliament are calling for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi who was due to be released from house detention on Wednesday the 27th May, 2009 and is now being indefinitely held on the ruse of an American who recently swam to her lakeside home to put her on a sham trial so as to extend her unlawful incarceration.

The junta pledged to free political detainees and hold elections next year as part of a much-discussed "roadmap" to restore democracy to the country, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged with violating the terms of her house arrest, and if convicted would likely be in prison when the elections take place. This is no coincidence.

We therefore call on ASEAN to demonstrate to the global community that we respect our Charter to protect and promote human rights and to uphold democratic principles in the region and will no longer tolerate Myanmar’s abusive regime.

We therefore call for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi or for Myanmar to face the consequences of being ousted from ASEAN.

Myanmar’s military junta have been allowed too many discretions by ASEAN and this last action indicates that they have are not sincere to stop their repeated violation of promises to release Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.

Aung San Suu Kyi and thousands of fellow monks and students have been imprisoned for bravely challenging the brutal military regime with peaceful calls for democracy. This has led to a refugee situation that is only worsening and how can we lay any foundations for these people to return under such circumstances?

We call on our Prime Minister, Hun Sen, in particular, to exercise leadership on this issue and condemn this latest threat imposed by Myanmar’s military junta that again threatens the overall security and stability of our region.

There is an added sense of urgency as the situation is clearly deteriorating with the trials being conducted behind closed doors irrespective of outcrys from the international community.

We must exercise strong positive leadership for our region and particularly demonstrate to the International community that the ASEAN Charter has ‘teeth’ and can be used effectively to promote peace and stability in the region by first and foremost ensuring Aung San Suu Kyi’s immediate release!

Signed

MP Son Chhay ; MP Sam Rainsy ; MP Mu Sochua ; MP Tioulong Saumura
MP Mao Munyvann ; MP Cheam Channy ; MP Kimsour Phirith; MP Yim Sovann
MP Eng Chhai Eang; MP Chiv Cata ; MP Thak Lany ; MP Ho Van
MP Ly Srey Vyna ; MP Yont Tharo ; MP Chan Cheng ; MP Khim Laky
MP Pot Pov ; MP Nuth Rumduol ; MP Men Sothavarin ; MP Khy Vandeth
MP Long Ry ; MP Chea Poch ; MP Kong Bora ; MP Kuoy Bunroeun
MP Tok Vanchan ; MP Ke Sovannaroth; MP Kem Sokha ; MP OU Chanrith
MP Yem Ponhearith

For further information, please contact :

MP Son Chhay : 012 858 857