Word: kyi
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Meanwhile, and much more convincingly, Aung San Suu Kyi was declaring her innocence before a court in Rangoon - alas, in vain. On Aug. 11, the iconic and much admired democracy leader was found guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest, a verdict that everyone, including Suu Kyi herself, had predicted. Also predictable was the apparent imperviousness of the ruling Burmese junta to the global outrage it generated by putting her under house arrest for another 18 months just as her last spell in detention was expiring. U.S. President Barack Obama called it "unjust." British Prime Minister Gordon Brown...
...prospect is admittedly remote. But a renewed focus on military atrocities in Burma could increase pressure on the regime and re-energize Burma's embattled democracy movement in the wake of the gloomy Suu Kyi verdict. A compelling case for a Burmese war-crimes trial is made in a May 2009 report by the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School. Its authors, who include one former judge and two former prosecutors from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, detail systematic and widespread atrocities committed in Burma in recent years: killings, torture, rape, "epidemic levels" of forced...
...With Burma, however, inaction is probable. The international community has long groped for effective measures - be they carrots or sticks - to persuade the generals to behave better. Last month U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hinted that Suu Kyi's release could encourage Washington to lift its ban on new investment in Burma. That's obviously off the table for now. Post verdict, it has been replaced by growing calls for the U.N. Security Council to approve a global embargo on arms sales to the regime and investigate its atrocities allegedly committed in its long-running war against ethnic insurgents...
...What else might move the generals? Conceivably, the threat of prosecution. Words alone aren't enough. The Suu Kyi trial proves again how little they care about world opinion. But don't be fooled by common depictions of them as blinkered, paranoid and xenophobic. "These caricatures ignore the fact that the regime contains intelligent officers who are close observers of the international scene," observes Andrew Selth of Australia's Griffith University. There is evidence that Burma's rulers are concerned about retribution. Just look at the military-drafted constitution. "Approved" by a sham referendum in the wake of last year...
...worried enough to let Suu Kyi go free. Another 18 months of house arrest is enough time to prevent her from meddling in a 2010 election that the military hopes will legitimize its grip on power; it's also enough time to dream up more excuses to detain her, as the junta has done for nearly 14 of the past 20 years. A British diplomat who attended the trial described her demeanor in court as "calm, dignified [and] upright, exuding quiet authority but no hint of bitterness towards the prosecution." She retreats into isolation once again, leaving one question unanswered...