Executed Myanmar prisoners deserved ‘many death sentences’: Junta spokesman

Myanmar’s junta on Tuesday slammed international condemnation of the country’s first use of the death penalty in decades, saying the four executed prisoners – two of them prominent pro-democracy campaigners – “deserved many death sentences”.

The executions announced on Monday sparked condemnations around the world, heightened fears more would follow and sparked calls for tougher international action against the already isolated junta.

But military authorities were defiant, and spokesman Zaw Min Tun insisted the men were “given the right to defend themselves in accordance with the court process.”

“If we compare their sentence to other death penalty cases, they committed crimes for which they should be sentenced to death many times,” he told a regular news conference in the capital, Naypyidaw.

“You harmed many innocent people. There were many great losses that could not be replaced.”

The detainees, including a former lawmaker from the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, have been allowed to meet family members via video conference, he said, without giving details.

The junta had previously rejected criticism from the UN and Western countries of the death sentences.

Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former National League for Democracy (NLD) MP from Suu Kyi, was sentenced to death in January for violating anti-terrorism laws.

Democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu – better known as “Jimmy” – was convicted by the military tribunal with the same verdict.

The other two men were sentenced to death for killing a woman they claimed was an informant for the Yangon junta.

The junta has sentenced dozens of anti-coup activists to death as part of its crackdown on dissidents after taking power last year, but Myanmar has not carried out an execution in decades.

After an international chorus of condemnation on Monday, including from the United Nations, the United States and European countries, there was fresh criticism of the junta on Tuesday.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, which has been leading diplomatic efforts to end the crisis, said it was “extremely alarmed and deeply saddened” by the executions.

In a statement by the current Cambodia leader, he accused the junta of “gross lack of will” to join ASEAN’s efforts to facilitate dialogue between the military and its adversaries.

In Bangkok, hundreds of people staged a noisy protest in front of the Myanmar embassy.

Some held up photos of Ko Jimmy and Phyo Zeya Thaw alongside Aung San Suu Kyi as they chanted “We Want Democracy.”

And Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah condemned the executions as “crimes against humanity”.

He called for a review of the so-called five-point consensus that Southeast Asian leaders agreed last year to defuse the political crisis in Myanmar following a coup.