ALLEGED COUP PLOTTERS SENTENCED TO DEATH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 001566

SIPDIS

USPACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/03/2013
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: ALLEGED COUP PLOTTERS SENTENCED TO DEATH

Classified By: COM CARMEN M. MARTINEZ for Reasons 1.5 (B,D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: According to Embassy sources, a secret SPDC
court on November 28 sentenced to death nine persons,
including a magazine editor and several individuals actively
involved with opposition movements, for allegedly planning to
assassinate regime leaders and bomb key government
installations. The SPDC denied the accused individuals legal
representation during their trials and has made no official
announcement regarding their death sentences, fueling local
speculation that the GOB is using trumped up charges to send
a message to detractors and would-be supporters of regime
change. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) According to Embassy sources, on November 28 a
special court at Rangoon's Insein prison sentenced nine
people to death on charges of treason under Section 122 of
the Burmese Penal Code. In a late July sweep, military
intelligence (MI) agents had arrested twelve individuals and
accused them of being underground agents with connections to
anti-SPDC exile groups and ethnic rebels. The nine members
of the group sentenced to death were also accused of planning
to assassinate SPDC leaders by planting bombs at five sites
around Rangoon on Martyrs Day (July 19).


3. (C) Three individuals (Aung Lun, Myo Htwe, and Myo Chit)
remain in detention without formal charges. The nine
individuals sentenced to death (and brief bio information)
are:

--Thet Zaw (AKA Zaw Thet Htwe): Chief editor of the sports
magazine "First Eleven" and a former leader of the now-banned
Democratic Party for New Society (DPNS).

--Naing Min Kyi (AKA Min Hyi): Member of the New Mon State
Party (NMSP).

--Naing Yakkha (AKA Ne Win): Member of the NMSP youth wing.

--Than Tun: Student activist.

--Zar Naing Tun (AKA Phyu Lay).

--Shwe Manh (AKA Zayar Oo).

--Aye Myint: Attorney.

--Zaw Myo Htet: Attorney and active leader of Mon National
League for Democracy (MNLD).

--Khabell (AKA Mya Sein): Sergeant with the Karen National
Union (KNU).


4. (U) Under Burmese law, those sentenced to death can appeal
their cases to the High Court (formerly known as the Supreme
Court). As practiced under the current regime, the High
Court will uphold the verdicts and refer them to the Head of
State, SPDC Chairman Sr Gen Than Shwe. However, the Senior
General has never made a decision on a death penalty case,
effectively leaving the prisoners in perpetual death row
limbo. Although there have been numerous death penalty cases
in recent years (most recently, the high profile case of the
son-in-law and grandchildren of former dictator Ne Win),the
last person executed in Burma was army captain Ohn Kay Myint
in the 1980s for planning a mutiny.


5. (C) COMMENT: In what has become an almost annual exercise,
the SPDC arrests anti-SPDC activists and charges them with
treason (in 2002, thirty were arrested during a single
sweep). MI makes a special effort to publicly link the
accused with exiled opposition groups to give the appearance
that the NLD and other domestic political parties are guilty
by association. While there are occasional signs of support
for a violent overthrow of the regime, the SPDC has never
held an open trial for alleged coup plotters or made
available evidence of such plotting. The sports magazine
editor sentenced to death in the latest secret trial, Zaw
Thet Htwe, ran afoul of the SPDC this summer when he
published articles on the GOB's mishandling of
foreign-donated funds to promote soccer in Burma. END
COMMENT.
Martinez