UN Calls on Burma Junta to Release Suu Kyi

Rare critical report labels detention illegal under country's laws

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 24, 2009 5:46 AM CDT

(Newser) – Burma's continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi violates both international law and the country's own criminal code, according to a UN report obtained by the AP. The pro-democracy leader has been under house arrest for 13 of last 19 years since her party won a landslide victory in the country’s 1990 elections. Burma's ruling junta, which refused to recognize the election, extends the detention yearly.

The report, which has been sent to the country's leaders, represents a rare move for the UN—which rarely accuses nations of violating their own laws. Authors of the report question whether Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi represents a genuine threat to the country's "public peace and tranquility" as the junta claims.

[Images (4)]

[Quotes (2)]

Shackled protesters dramatize the continued detention of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners in Burma during a protest at the Burmese Embassy in Manila. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, front right, smiles as she arrives at party headquarters in Yangon, Myanmar, May 7, 2002. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File)

United Nations special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, left, talks with detained Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during their meeting in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday, Feb. 2, 2009. (AP Photo/Myanmar News Agency, HO)

Myanmar residents in Japan hold a portrait of detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi as they take part in a rally to mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

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I am under no illusion that the junta will be listening to the UN. There is no quick and easy answer to the problem of Burma, so we have to take it one step forward at a time. - Jared Genser, a Washington-based attorney retained by Suu Kyi's family

The Working Group requests the government to immediately release, without any condition, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi from her continued placement under house arrest. - the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions

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UN Calls on Burma Junta to Release Suu Kyi