US embassy cable - 03RANGOON1566

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, Ethnics, Human Rights 
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