‘Executions a required action’

Lives on the line: Kyaw Min Yu and Phyo Zeya Thaw have been handed the death sentence over terrorism convictions. — AP

The ruling military defended a planned execution of two prominent democracy figures as lawful and required, defying international criticism for resuming capital punishment after a three-decade hiatus.

The United Nations, France, the United States and international human rights groups have urged the junta not to follow through with the execution of activist Kyaw Min Yu and former lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw, who lost appeals against a terrorism conviction.

They were found guilty of providing weapons and helping to organise attacks by resistance groups on state targets.

It is unclear when they will be executed or how they pleaded in their trials, which Myanmar has largely held behind closed doors.

Military spokesman Zaw Min Tun said there were many countries using the death penalty.

“At least 50 innocent civilian, excluding security forces, died because of them. How can you say this is not justice?,” Zaw Min Tun told a televised news conference.

“Required actions are needed to be done in the required moments.”

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a coup early least year that ended a decade of tentative democracy that was introduced after five decades of army rule.

The military has defied foreign outrage over the executions, which UN experts last week said were decided without due process.

“These death sentences, handed down by an illegitimate court of an illegitimate junta, are a vile attempt at instilling fear amongst the people of Myanmar,” the experts said.

The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet warned that going ahead with the country’s first judicial executions since 1990 would “violate the right to life”.

“I urgently call on military authorities to refrain from such a regressive step,” she told the UN Human Rights Council.

Myanmar’s military seized power on Feb 1 last year, ousting the civilian government and arresting its de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

The junta has since waged a bloody crackdown on dissent. — Reuters/AFP