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Philippine Disappointed at Trial



Philippines "disappointed" at trial of activists in Myanmar
Fri 14 Aug 98 - 12:08 GMT
MANILA, Aug 14 (AFP) - The Philippines said Friday it was "disappointed" by
Myanmar's
decision to put on trial 18 foreign activists including two Filipinos accused
of inciting unrest.
"We were disappointed that they were charged but we are hoping that they will
be released as
soon as possible as they should be," Foreign Undersecretary Lauro Baja told
journalists.
Philippine ambassador to Myanmar Sonia Brady reported to her superiors here
that the trial
began at 10 a.m. at a court in Insein, a northern suburb of Yangon.
The 18 stand charged of violating a 1950 emergency law under which they could
get up to 20
years in jail, she said.
After the court appearance, the foreigners -- six Americans, two Filipinos,
three Indonesians,
three Malaysians, three Thais and an Australian -- were brought back aboard "a
tourist bus" to
a police guest house in the capital where they have been held since Sunday.
Diplomatic sources here said eight witnesses were presented Friday and that
four more were
scheduled to take the witness stand later.
A source, who asked not to be named, said "there are indications the Burmese
junta wanted to
dispose of the cases immediately." Burma is Myanmar's former name.
"Ambassador Brady said she was assured by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
Burma that the
18 will have to undergo due process but they promised to settle the cases
expeditiously," the
source said.
Unlike the other foreigners, who were arrested distributing leaflets urging
people to remember
the 10th anniversary of a bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy
demonstrators on
August 8, 1988, the Filipinos were nabbed at Yangon's international airport on
their way back
to Bangkok.
Myanmar authorities found one of the Filipinos wearing a T-shirt with the
numbers "8888"
signifying the date of the crackdown, and the peacock emblem of the opposition
National
League for Democracy under another shirt, the source said.
A similar shirt was found in the luggage of the other Filipino, the source
added.
Merci Ferrer, head of the local chapter of the Free Burma Coalition in Manila,
told journalists
Friday the trial showed the "military regime in Burma is unyielding, so we
will continue with our
protests."