Prison terms devastate Myanmar democracy movement

BANGKOK, Thailand -- In a devastating week for Myanmar's democracy movement, dozens of its members have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms, as the military-ruled government locks away writers and Buddhist monks -- as well as musicians, a poet and at least one journalist.

By the weekend, more than 80 had received sentences of up to 65 years -- a move that seemed designed to keep them jailed long past upcoming elections, activists and analysts said Sunday.

"They are clearing the decks of anyone who is likely to challenge their authority ahead of the election" in 2010, Larry Jagan, a Bangkok-based newspaper columnist and Myanmar analyst, said of the generals who rule the country.

Many of those sentenced were arrested following mass pro-democracy protests that were crushed by the ruling junta in September 2007. According to U.N. estimates, at least 31 people were killed and thousands were detained. Many fled the country or went underground.

Others sentenced this week were arrested in 2007 for protesting a massive fuel-price hike -- demonstrations that preceded the protests in September. The blogger received more than 20 years in prison for Internet activities, and a poet was sentenced to two years for allegedly concealing the text of an anti-government slogan in one of his works. The journalist was arrested while covering a demonstration staged by victims of this year's devastating cyclone.

News of the sentences came mostly through activists and analysts. The military junta that has ruled Myanmar since 1962 did not comment on the sentences, most of which were handed down in closed-door proceedings. It was not known why the prisoners were sentenced now, although many analysts concluded the move was made to eliminate opposition ahead of the election that the junta has described as part of its "roadmap to democracy." Opposition groups and other critics dismiss it as a sham meant to perpetuate military rule.

"Now they won't be able to participate in the election," said Soe Aung, spokesman for the National Council for the Union of Burma, a Thailand-based umbrella organization for exile groups. "The generals are trying to put the final nail in the coffin to keep themselves in power forever."

Twenty-three of those sentenced were members of the 88 Generation Students group, veterans of a brutally suppressed 1988 democratic uprising, who received prison terms of 65 years each, and a labor activist, Su Su Nway, was sentenced to 12 years. At least 10 people allied with the pro-democracy National League for Democracy party headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi received jail terms of eight to 24 years.

"They fear the 88 Generation Students. They were at the forefront of the protest last year, and they are not passive," Jagan said.

Early Sunday, nine of the more prominent members of the 88 Generation Students group were taken from infamous Insein Prison in a Yangon suburb to prisons in more remote parts of the country, according to Aung Din, co-founder of the Washington-based U.S. Campaign for Burma, which lobbies for political change in Myanmar, also called Burma.

"The transfer of political prisoners to far-flung districts is an additional punishment to the activists and such a move will cause extreme social and financial burden to the families," said Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy party.

The European Union said last week that the election will be seen as illegitimate unless the junta frees all political prisoners.

Amnesty International and other human rights groups say the junta holds more than 2,100 political prisoners, up sharply from nearly 1,200 in June 2007, before the pro-democracy demonstrations.

The prisoners include opposition leader Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest.