The former British ambassador to Myanmar and her husband, a prominent artist, have reportedly been sentenced to a year in prison by the country’s military-controlled courts.
Vicky Bowman, who was the ambassador to Myanmar from 2002 to 2006, and her husband, Htein Lin, a veteran democracy activist, were arrested last week in Yangon and charged with violating immigration laws.
All of them have been sentenced to a year in prison, according to the BBC and Associated Press.
Amnesty International’s deputy regional director of campaigns, Ming Yu Hah, described the news of his conviction as deeply troubling. “The Myanmar military has a notorious record of arresting and imprisoning people for political reasons or false accusations,” he said.
Separately on Friday, courts sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, to three years in prison for election fraud, meaning she faces a total sentence of 20 years. There are more cases against her, which could lead to decades more in prison.
Ousted president Win Myint and former minister of the president’s office Min Thu also received three-year sentences for election fraud, according to AP.
The military has tried to justify the 2021 coup by alleging widespread fraud in the 2020 election, which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won in a landslide.
The Asian Network for Free Elections, an independent group that observed the 2020 vote, found it to be “generally representative of the will of the people.” In a statement, he condemned the latest sentences and asked the military to respect the results of the elections.
Dr Sasa, a spokesman for the National Unity Government (NUG), made up of elected lawmakers and activists opposed to the coup, said the cases against Aung San Suu Kyi were ridiculous and that the military was simply trying to silence her. . He has been denied free and proper access to his lawyer, he said.
“This is just the military doing everything they can to prolong their reign of terror against the people of Myanmar. This has nothing to do with the rule of law, nothing to do with justice, this is about them staying to power,” said Sasa.
The sentences announced on Friday, including those of Bowman and Htein Lin, showed the true colors of the Myanmar military, he added. “Regardless of whether you’re a foreigner, or a diplomat, whoever, if you’re in Myanmar, you’re not safe. They don’t see you as a human being. They see you as someone who can be taken out of the house at night,” he said.
Bowman, who is fluent in Burmese and began her diplomatic career working as second secretary at the British Embassy in 1990, now heads the Myanmar Center for Responsible Business.
Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertisements and content funded by third parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Htein Lin is one of Myanmar’s most famous artists. He was imprisoned for more than six years under military rule in 1998 and is known for continuing his art while in detention, improvising with materials to create more than 1,000 works.
The board previously said the couple breached immigration rules because they had not registered their new address with authorities.
The arrests came last week as Britain announced new sanctions against companies linked to the military and said it would “intervene” in a genocide case brought by Gambia against Myanmar at the international court of justice in 2019.
More than 15,320 people have been detained since the army seized power in a coup on February 1, 2021, and 12,219 remain in detention, according to the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners, which monitors of arrests and murders.
Other foreigners arrested are Professor Sean Turnell, an Australian economic adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi, and Toru Kubota, a Japanese filmmaker.