US embassy cable - 03RANGOON1478

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 001478 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2013 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, BM, NLD, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: NLD MP-ELECT DETAILS IMPRISONMENT 
 
Classified By: DCM RON MCMULLEN FOR REASON 1.5 (B) AND (D). 
 
1.  (C) NLD MP-elect U Hla Min, 65, credits UNSR Pinheiro 
with winning his release from prison November 9 after the 
regime held him for five months without charge.  Hla Min is 
the last of the Professional Development Program (PDP) 
students swept up in the post-May 30 anti-NLD crackdown to be 
released.  (Note:  PDP - protect - is a stealthy, 
embassy-sponsored training and development program for senior 
NLD cadre.)  Emboff met with Hla Min November 17 and received 
the following details of his arrest and imprisonment.  Hla 
Min's account typifies the personal sagas of numerous NLD 
members after May 30. 
 
2.  (C) Hla Min was traveling with Aung San Suu Kyi's convoy 
on her ill-fated trip, but he stayed behind on May 19 to get 
two broken-down cars repaired.  Help came from the Kachin 
Independence Organization, which may have inflamed the SPDC, 
he speculated.  Hla Min was arrested on June 3 in Rangoon and 
was kept at a township Military Intelligence camp for 45 days 
before being transferred to Insein Prison.  When he asked why 
he was imprisoned, "disturbing the peace" was the only answer 
he got.  He was able to call his family three times early on, 
received three food parcels while in Insein, and saw a doctor 
daily, who recorded his heartbeat and blood pressure. 
 
3.  (C) UNSR Pinheiro interviewed Hla Min on November 5 and 
expressed puzzlement as to why he was imprisoned.  Apparently 
no formal charges were ever filed against Hla Min, which 
enabled the authorities to release him on November 9.  Hla 
Min credits the Pinheiro interview for his relatively early 
release.  Hla Min said that had the regime filed formal 
charges, he was apt to have been sentenced to seven years, 
plus the two years knocked off his 1997 - 2001 jail term. 
When asked about any political plans, the NLD MP-elect 
shrugged and replied, "We are just followers--with our 
leaders in prison we can't do anything." 
Martinez