Despite a series of prisoner amnesties since Aung San Suu Kyi took power last month, a court in Mandalay today sentenced Saffron Revolution leader U Gambira to six months in jail with hard labor on immigration charges widely dismissed as politically motivated.
He was convicted of entering the country illegally when he returned to Myanmar from his home in Thailand in January this year, intending to obtain a passport.
Gambira, a former monk, rose to prominence after leading the 2007 Saffron Revolution protests. He was defrocked and thrown in jail by the former military junta and spent several years behind bars before his release as part of a general amnesty in 2012.
In a statement released before the sentencing, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said: “Burmese authorities should drop this trumped-up case against U Gambira, who is being targeted for his prominent role in opposing military dictatorship.
“U Gambira suffered terribly under the military junta and he should not have to suffer further by spending even one more day in prison.”
Gambira suffers acute post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his years in prison.
Today’s sentencing was roundly condemned by human rights activists.
Laura Haigh, Amnesty International researcher for Myanmar, speculated that the new government, which took power on March 1, could use executive powers to release Gambira.
While the National League for Democracy now dominates the parliament and the government is led by Suu Kyi, several powerful ministeries, including Home Affairs and Immigration, remain under the control of the military. Corruption is rife among the judiciary, meanwhile.
Last month, lawyer Kyi Thar Phone Myint told Coconuts Yangon the ties between police, prosecutors and judges would likely be slow to unpick. “The police… are connected to the court and working together,” he said. “Personally, most of them are very close to each other.”
