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NEWS - Richts Body Accuses Myanma
- Subject: NEWS - Richts Body Accuses Myanma
- From: Rangoonp@xxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 20:13:00
Subject: NEWS - Richts Body Accuses Myanmar, Turkey Over MPS
Richts Body Accuses Myanmar, Turkey Over MPS
Reuters
05-FEB-99
GENEVA, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Persecution of
parliamentarians worldwide is on the rise, with
governments becoming more adept at silencing
opposition voices through the courts, a human
rights watchdog committee said on Friday.
The human rights committee of the
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) said that it had
examined the cases of 311 members of parliament
in 31 countries at its week-long meeting.
Myanmar, whose government has waged a long
battle against supporters of Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD), led the list of complaints taken
up by IPU's committee of five parliamentarians.
"In Myanmar, the committee looked at 150 to 160
cases of parliamentarians who have been detained
or sentenced," IPU secretary-general Anders
Johnsson told a news briefing.
"Some have died in prison, others are in very bad
condition. IPU continues to demand their
unconditional release."
The Swede added: "The (Myanmar) parliament was
fairly elected and should be convened, and allowed
to work."
The NLD won a landslide victory in the 1990
general election, but the military refused to
recognise the results of that poll.
Turkey, which has accused 15 parliamentarians on
charges "basically linked to the Kurdish question,"
has the second highest number of cases, according
to member Francois Borel, a Swiss parliamentarian.
Four are serving 25-year jail terms.
The committee has taken up 1,000 complaints in 20
years.
"In the past, there were mainly disappearances and
assassinations. Today the objective is still to
silence politicians, but legal proceedings are used
to stop them from exercising their freedom of
expression," Johnsson said.
Juan Pablo Letelier Morel, a socialist member of
Chile's parliament who serves on IPU's committee,
said the cases of 64 of the 311 MPs had been
examined confidentially.
"The reason we don't go public on all cases is that
in the negotiating process with governments this is
an element of pressure that can get cases
resolved," he said.