(Yangon) – The military council released, on Wednesday, more than 600 people arrested since the coup in Burma, including a photographer from the American news agency AP, and it is still secretly detaining hundreds of civilians and continuing its deadly crackdown.
“Today we released 360 men and 268 women from Insein prison,” in Yangon, a senior prison official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
They left the prison by bus, waving three fingers of resistance, according to photos published by local media.
Social media image, via Reuters
The pro-democracy protesters left the prison by bus, waving three fingers of resistance, according to photos published by local media.
Hours later, Than Zaw, a Burmese Associated Press photographer, who was arrested at the end of February while covering protests against the junta, announced to AFP that he had been released.
” I’m in a good health […] The 32-year-old photographer, formerly accused of “spreading false news,” said the charges against me had been dropped.
French Press Agency
Thien Zaw, a Burmese cameraman with the Associated Press, who was arrested in late February for covering the protests against the junta, has also been released.
Politicians, strikers, activists and artists: the generals who seized power in 1is being Hundreds of civilians are still being held in February, including Aung San Suu Kyi.
The 75-year-old former civilian leader was due to appear in court on Wednesday. But the hearing, by videoconference, was not conducted due to a lack of internet connection, mobile data and several wifi networks that the military had cut off for days to isolate the country.
The hearing has been postponed to 1is being “April,” said his lawyer, Khin Maung Zhao, who has not yet been permitted to see his client.
The ‘silent strike’
A call for a “silent strike” was launched on Wednesday, and the streets of Rangoon, the main city in the country, or Naypyidaw, the administrative capital, went out with many shops closed.
In Myeik (South), in an attempt to avoid being targeted, protesters erected rows of dolls along the roads with small signs: “We need democracy”, “We want mother Suu (Kyi) to be healthy.”
To extinguish the blowing wind that blows over Burma since the first dayis being In February, the soldiers intensified their response every day. More and more civilians not taking part in the protest are being targeted, including women and children.
The United Nations Human Rights Council condemned on Wednesday the “disproportionate use of force” and called for the establishment of an office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the country.
Seven-year-old Khin Miu Chit was killed Tuesday by “a lethal bullet in the stomach while at her home” in Mandalay (center), according to the Association for Aid to Prisoners Policy (AAPP). . His death was not confirmed at this stage from an independent source to France Press.
The non-governmental organization “Save the Children” said it was “horrific that children are still among the targets,” pointing to the killing of 20 minors in the past seven weeks.
A total of 275 civilians died, according to the association. The losses could be much heavier: hundreds of detainees are missing.
‘Violent terrorists’
For his part, a spokesman for the military council, Zhao Min Tun, said that 164 protesters were victims, and were described as “violent terrorists.” He said he was determined to “quell chaos”, ignoring new sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union.
Violence remains very acute in Mandalay with 21 civilians killed since Sunday.
On the part of the ethnic groups, which control about a third of Burma’s territory and have condemned the coup, the Karen National Union (KNU) said that “hundreds” of people have moved to the areas they control. In the southeast.
“We believe it may rise to six or seven thousand people by the end of April,” the Secretary-General of the Karen National Federation, So Tah Doh Mo, told AFP, considering this an unlikely displacement. In addition to those fleeing the cities, these areas host 5,000 Karen civilians displaced by the fighting since December.
On the Thai side, Tak District has already indicated that it is preparing for an influx of refugees and is able to absorb 30 to 50,000.
Meanwhile, the Burmese military is tightening its judicial grip on Aung San Suu Kyi.
Two men confessed, in videos published by state media in recent days, for allegedly paying between them more than $ 1 million and 11 kilograms of gold in bribes. Observers question the authenticity of these testimonies. One of the witnesses is imprisoned and the other has a troubled past.
The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner was charged with four other charges, including “inciting public unrest.”
She faces many years in prison and banned from political life.
The military council justified its coup by claiming “massive” fraud in the legislative elections in November, which were overwhelmingly won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (LND) party. Since 1is being In February, at least two NLD members died in custody, and dozens were arrested and the rest hid.
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