Myanmar junta wants political opponents prosecuted faster

Myanmar’s junta is pushing the courts to prosecute political opponents‘ trials faster despite it impacting defendants’ lawyers’ preparation. The regime has instructed courts to finish all trials of opponents, including the leader of the democratically elected party Aung San Suu Kyi. A Yangon-based lawyer, who spoke anonymously, says this is not always a fair tactic.

“It is not always good to have speedy trials. Some cases are only heard for four days. Under such circumstances, courts can’t hand out documents to lawyers in time. This means lawyers can’t prepare properly, which negatively affects defendants.”

According to The Irrawaddy, another lawyer claimed that the court clerks are demanding large bribes for photocopying services, further obstructing the work of lawyers. Lawyers are only supposed to pay a 50-kyat (1 baht) photocopying application fee plus a stamp tax of 50 kyats per page, but court clerks are demanding much larger amounts.

“Recently, I paid a court clerk 5,000 kyats (91 baht) to photocopy a few pages, but he complained that the amount was small. I was once asked to pay 200,000 kyats when I needed to photocopy a few dozen pages. Yangon district courts are the worst. Some, including Mingalardon District Court, blatantly ask for money. [Clerks] ask for 10,000 to 20,000 kyats to sign [the photocopying application]. It is unacceptable.”

The regime is also allegedly prosecuting political detainees at military tribunals where the defendant’s rights to counsel are denied, subsequently ending in the death penalty for the defendants. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the regime has reportedly detained 12,655 political opponents and sentenced 1,548 to jail since last year’s coup.

Recently, Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party was ousted during the coup, was charged with two more counts of corruption. Her prison sentence has subsequently been extended to 26 years. Suu Kyi was the leader of the NLD party which was democratically elected in late 2021, only to be overthrown by the military which made unfounded accusations that the election was rigged.