Myanmar: protests against the execution of 4 activists by the military authorities. Metsola (EU), “capital punishment is inhuman and should be repealed all over the world”

A choir of protests and condemnations rose all over the world at the news that in Myanmar, ruled by military authorities, four political activists were executed yesterday, on charge of “terrorist acts”. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, condemned the execution of these “patriots and champions of human rights and democracy”. These people “have been tried and sentenced by a military court without the right of appeal and reportedly without the assistance of a lawyer, in breach of international human rights law”, Andrews stated. “These depraved deeds must be a turning point for the international community: what else should the authorities do before the international community decides to take some strong initiative?”. The news published on the international press tell that the former PM and hip-hop artist Phyo Zeya Thaw (41 years old), Kyaw Min Yu (53), Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw have been hanged. “I am horrified at the execution of pro-democracy activists by the Burmese authorities”, the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, wrote. “I most firmly condemn this outrageous breach of human rights. Capital punishment is inhuman and should be repealed all over the world”. In a release from the French foreign ministry, condemnation for this “unfair, inhuman and ineffective punishment” is joined by an appeal “for the release of all those who have bene arbitrarily detained since February 1st, that the violence perpetrated by the Burmese military regime may be stopped, and a process of dialogue may be established with all the parties concerned. France’s support to Myanmar’s population, whose courage it salutes, remains unchanged”.
Sarah Numico