Capital punishment by Myanmar junta may constitute war crimes: UN

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – The recent capital punishment announced by the military junta in Myanmar “may constitute one or more crimes against humanity or war crimes,” a UN official said.

Nicholas Koumjian, who leads UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, said in a statement from Geneva on Monday that the body was closely following events surrounding the recent announcement by the Myanmar military that it intends to carry out death sentences imposed on four individuals by military courts following non-public trials.

“Imposing a death sentence, or even a period of detention, on the basis of proceedings that do not satisfy the basic requirements of a fair trial may constitute one or more crimes against humanity or war crimes,” said Koumjian.

The four individuals, including two prominent activists, were tried and convicted in military tribunals and reportedly without access to legal counsel during their rejected appeals, violating international human rights law.

They were sentenced to death by a military tribunal in January on charges of treason and terrorism. If the executions proceed, they will be the first judicial executions in Myanmar since 1988.

Early this month, the junta said it intends to execute the individuals.

“The available information strongly suggests that under international law, fundamental rights of the convicted persons were blatantly violated in these proceedings,” said the UN official.

Koumjian said the body will continue to “monitor and collect evidence in relation to these cases, and any other cases involving the imposition of the death penalty in circumstances that appear to violate fundamental fair trial guarantees.”

The military’s coup last year in the Buddhist-majority nation was met by mass civil unrest as people protested the restoration of military rule in Myanmar. The junta cracked down violently on protests as the UN repeatedly warned the country had descended into civil war.

Since February 2021 when the military took power, junta forces have killed nearly 2,000 people in a crackdown on dissent, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a local monitoring group.

Tom Andrews, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, in a report said that at least 382 children have been killed or maimed by armed groups since the coup last year.

Military attacks on civilian populations have displaced more than 250,000 children, who join the roughly 130,000 children in protracted displacement and the more than half-million child refugees from Myanmar in neighboring countries, according to the report.

Soldiers and police officers have tortured at least 142 children since the coup, according to reports received by the UN.