Myanmar military targets lawyers defending political prisoners Military News

As the Myanmar military struggles to strengthen control over a rebel-held country, it has increasingly targeted different types of resistance: lawyers defending political prisoners. In the past month, at least five lawyers have been arrested across Myanmar for defending politicians and activists for escalating attacks by the military on the judicial system.

First, in late May, police arrested Thein Hlaing Tun, Naypyidaw Council President Myo Aung, the lawyer for the acquittal of the accused Aung San Suu Kyi. Former Myanmar elected leader Min Aung Hlaing was ousted in a military coup on February 1, when the National League for Democracy party won the November election.

Since the coup, the military regime has killed about 883 civilian protesters and arrested, imputed or punished more than 6,000 opponents by the Political Prisoners ’Aid Association, which is monitoring the situation.

Thein Hlaing Tun and five other lawyers were with their clients on May 24, when they were arrested and indicted under section 505A on charges of three years in prison and becoming the generals ’favorite tool. Khin Maung Zaw Aung San Suu Kyi’s defense team leader said Myo Aung was not informed of the arrest until he met with other lawyers on June 7.

“He then appointed new lawyers among us,” Khin Maung Zaw said in a text message. “We are concerned about other lawyers,” he told Al Jazeera, saying the situation has become “VERY DIFFICULT” because of the “risk of harassment or arrest” and internal disagreements over how to proceed in a crooked legal system.

Shortly afterwards, on May 28, Ayeyarwady regional lawyer was arrested while defending a political dissident at the trial. According to local media, he took some high-ranking clients, including a hospital superintendent who went on strike instead of working in the military regime. He was also charged under section 505A.

On June 2, lawyer Thet Tun Oo was arrested in Kachin state while trying to attend a trial. He allegedly represented more than 100 political prisoners, including detained members of the Kachin state government. A colleague spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals, and said the arrest had exacerbated an existing atmosphere of fear.

“After the arrest, we went to hiding places, but we are also trying to defend the cases,” he said. When lawyers go to defend cases, he said uniformed police record photos and videos in a terrifying way, and that female lawyers are too scared to go to court alone.

The lawyer said before hiding, he felt he was constantly in custody, often noticing “strangers looking at my house.” He has also received suspicious phone calls from unknown numbers asking him to immediately confront him for legal advice, which he is too afraid to accept.

“We know we could be arrested, but I can’t help it. Because if we stop doing that, who will defend those cases? he said.

‘No real justice’

On June 12, two lawyers were arrested in Kayin State while trying to cross the border into Thailand after learning that they were wanted by the military. Nilar and Phone Myat Thu Kayin were both members of the state minister’s legal team, removed from office and implicated along with most civilian leaders in February.

Some lawyers have had to hide but say they will continue to defend political prisoners and detainees [File: Lynn Bo Bo/EPA]

A close friend of the two lawyers said he received a call from another friend around midnight, reporting the arrest.

“Both lawyers have been hiding in Myawaddyin since they heard they were going to be arrested … We haven’t seen or met them until now,” he said. Like everyone else, they are charged under section 505A.

“We feel that there is no rule of law. If the lawyer is arrested in this way, we should be able to meet and see him. Now that no one can protect us, even the law cannot protect our rights, ”he said.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said the lawyers ’target could also cut off a key source of information about other inmates arrested.

“[R]Reducing that relationship with clients through fear of lawyers means there is less information from prisons about what is happening to people inside, “he said, which helped document rights organizations to” torture and ill-treat. “

Just last week, Naypyidaw Council Vice President revealed through his lawyer that he had broken his rib in interrogations. Lawyers are also often the only way for relatives and friends to communicate with loved ones, and high-level detainees the only way to convey messages to people.

“If lawyers are arrested and asked about their activities and clients, no one will guarantee that they don’t want to give legal advice to activists – that’s probably the real intent of the board’s actions here,” Robertson said, warning that “there is no real justice”. it will be found while the judicial system is “in the hands of the military”.

Military control and then pressure on the judiciary are a blow to the younger generation in Myanmar, as the country was getting older at the time it was opening up and they thought things could be different.

A law student in Yangon has said the coup has destroyed his hopes for a once-chosen profession and also asks him if he should finish his degree.

“Even my hopes for the future … on February 1, everything escaped,” he said. Although he believed there were “a lot of flaws and mistakes” in the legal system before the coup, the situation has become “even more frightening”.

The situation has prompted some student lawyers to continue in their profession [AP Photo]

“What is [the law] if the board is arresting all those who disagree? he asked.

He said he wanted to become a lawyer, “to give strength, voice and confidence to help the society in which I live,” but he began to feel “powerless”.

But he doesn’t give up.

The pressure on lawyers is also making people in the legal community “angry and motivated to fight this unjust and unjust system,” he told Al Jazeera. “Our generation must be and must be the last to suffer a coup.”