Asean calls Myanmar executions of 4 rights activists 'reprehensible'

PHNOM PENH • Asean chair Cambodia has called the timing of the Myanmar junta's execution of four activists "highly reprehensible" and said it has presented a gross lack of will to support the bloc's peace efforts in the country.

Myanmar's ruling military lashed out yesterday against international condemnation of the country's first use of capital punishment in decades, saying that the four executed prisoners - two of them prominent democracy fighters - "deserved many death sentences".

The executions announced on Monday heightened fears that more will follow and prompted calls for sterner international measures against the junta.

Spokesman Zaw Min Tun insisting the men were "given the right to defend themselves according to court procedure".

"If we compare their sentence with other death penalty cases, they have committed crimes for which they should have been given death sentences many times," he said at a regular press briefing in the capital Naypyitaw.

Myanmar's Foreign Ministry said it "rejects in the strongest terms" criticism doled out by international powers including the United Nations, European Union, United States and former colonial ruler Britain.

In a statement issued yesterday and dated Monday, Cambodia, which heads Asean this year, said it denounces and is strongly disappointed by the executions.

"The implementation of the death sentences, just a week before the 55th Asean Ministerial Meeting, is highly reprehensible as it created a setback (and presented) a gross lack of will to support the efforts, particularly by the Asean chair," it said.

The statement said Asean "strongly and urgently called on all parties concerned to desist from taking actions that would only further aggravate the crisis, hinder peaceful dialogue among all parties concerned, and endanger peace, security and stability, not only in Myanmar, but the whole region".

Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan wrote in a Facebook post that Asean has denounced the executions of political detainees by the Myanmar military authorities.

"This is a grave setback for Asean's efforts to facilitate a peaceful resolution and national reconciliation in Myanmar.

"We reiterate our call for the release of all political detainees, including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi," he wrote.

"A peaceful resolution of the crisis can only be achieved through constructive dialogue among all parties concerned. Deepest condolences to the families of all victims," he added.

Those executed were democracy campaigner Kyaw Min Yu, and former lawmaker and hip-hop artist Phyo Zeya Thaw, an ally of Ms Suu Kyi. The two others were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE