BURMA: KEY 88GS PLAYERS SENTENCED AMIDST ONGOING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000891 SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP AND IO; PACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM SUBJECT: BURMA: KEY 88GS PLAYERS SENTENCED AMIDST ONGOING CONVICTIONS REF: A. RANGOON 882 ¶B. RANGOON 873 Classified By: Pol Officer Sean O'Neill for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) Contacts with the NLD, 88 Generation Students (88GS), and Human Rights Defenders and Promoters report that the regime has sentenced at least another 45 political detainees to lengthy prison terms, bringing the number of persons convicted since November 7 to at least 86 (Ref A). The newly-convicted detainees include at least nine members of 88GS (including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, and Htay Kywe),28 NLD members, and one local journalist. The 88GS activists were each sentenced to 65 years' imprisonment and promptly moved to several different prisons throughout Burma. Leading 88GS activist Toe Kyaw Hlaing predicts the spate of convictions will have a chilling effect on the opposition in the lead up to the 2010 elections. KEY 88GS MEMBERS CONVICTED, SPLIT UP -------------- ¶2. (C) NLD Spokesman Nyan Win and 88GS activist Toe Kyaw Hlaing reported separately that on November 11, the regime sentenced nine key 88GS activists - including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, and Htay Kywe - to 65 years' imprisonment for their roles in a series of August 2007 protests. Family members told Toe Kyaw Hlaing and Nyan Win that the detained activists were transferred from Ma U Bin prison in Irrawaddy Division to Insein prison in Rangoon on November 15 before being moved again to different prisons across the country on November 16. Authorities permitted some family members to see the detainees briefly at Insein prison before they were transferred. ¶3. (C) According to family members, Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi were moved to Kyaingtone prison in northeastern Shan State; Htay Kywe was moved to Buthedaung prison in Rakhine State; Mya Aye and Hla Myo Naung were moved to Myitkyina prison in Kachin State; and Phyone Cho, Nyan Lin, Aung Thu, and Aung Naing were moved to other undisclosed prisons in Burma. Toe Kyaw Hlaing met with several 88GS family members over the weekend and described them as extremely upset about these convictions and prisoner transfers. He noted that most of these prisons were extremely difficult to reach from Rangoon and said visiting on a regular basis would present a severe financial hardship for the families. Since their arrest in August 2007 until they were moved on November 16, all nine of these 88GS detainees were housed together, first at Insein prison in Rangoon and more recently at Ma U Bin prison in Irrawaddy Division, approximately two hours' drive from Rangoon. NUMEROUS OTHERS SENTENCED, MOVED -------------- ¶4. (C) NLD spokesman Nyan Win and Human Rights Defenders and Promoters member Maung Maung Lay told us that on November 13 and 14 the regime sentenced an additional 35 political detainees, including 28 NLD members, to between two and 16 years' imprisonment. We are seeking to confirm media reports that officials also sentenced local JOURNALIST Ein Khaing Oo to two years' imprisonment for disturbing public tranquility. Win Khaing Oo was arrested in June 2008 while covering a demonstration by victims of Cylone Nargis seeking humanitarian assistance from the UN. ¶5. (C) A colleague of opposition lawyer U Aung Thein confirmed that on November 16, officials transferred U Aung Thein to Pathein prison in Irrawaddy Division, and moved lawyer U Khin Maung Shein to Mayung Mya prison in Irrawaddy Division. U Aung Thein and U Khin Maung Shein were sentenced to four months' imprisonment for contempt of court on November 7 (Ref B). RANGOON 00000891 002 OF 002 ¶6. (SBU) The vast majority of these 86 individuals have been in custody for several months or longer, many since the summer of 2007. The GOB has just now sentenced them to prison time, rather than continuing to hold them without charge or conviction. A CHILLING EFFECT -------------- ¶7. (C) Toe Kyaw Hlaing predicts these convictions will have a chilling effect on the opposition. He notes that several of his colleagues have expressed growing fears they may be arrested soon and said four or five are considering leaving the country as a precaution. He lamented that as 2010 draws closer, it will become increasingly difficult to motivate those few dissidents who remain free and to recruit the next generation of pro-democracy activists. Toe Kyaw Hlaing reminded us that Special Branch officers have questioned him twice in the past two months. He predicts the regime will undertake another wave of arrests, possibly including his own, before 2010. We are unable to ascertain the regime's motives in proceeding with the mass convictions at this particular time, but it appears to signal the regime's continuing effort to clear the playing field of any possible opposition before the 2010 elections. VAJDA