Four sentenced to death in Burma over 'coup plot'
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Your support makes all the difference.A special court in Burma sentenced the son-in-law and three grandsons of the former dictator Ne Win to death by hanging yesterday after convicting them of treason for plotting to overthrow the military government.
The court, held in the capital, Rangoon, also found Aye Zaw Win, 54, and his sons – Aye Ne Win, 25, Kyaw Ne Win, 23, and Zwe Ne Win, 21 – guilty of trying to recruit army officers and inciting military personnel to commit high treason, for which they were sentenced to life in prison. But the sentence was expected to be subsumed by the death penalty.
"The court finds [the defendants] guilty of high treason, for which the court awards the sentence of death by hanging under section 122 of the Penal Code," Judge Aung Ngwe said after reading out the 80-page judgment. The verdict will have to be endorsed by the High Court, but this is considered a formality.
The four men were composed and listened to the verdict in silence. They have denied the charges, saying they have no interest in politics. They have until next Thursday to appeal the verdict in the Supreme Court.
They were arrested on 7 March after an army officer told authorities that he had been approached by the family to mount the coup to return Ne Win to power. The sentence has destroyed the widely held belief that the Ne Win clan has influence over the junta.
Ne Win, 91, and his daughter Sandar Win – Aye Zaw Win's wife – have also been placed under house arrest at their lakeside mansion.
The government said that Ne Win's relatives planned the coup because they disliked losing economic and political privileges with the sidelining of Ne Win from power.
Ne Win, who came to power in a 1962 coup, stepped down in 1988 in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations that were crushed by the military. The generals, who took over power, continue to rule.
Earlier yesterday, another tribunal found Aye Zaw Win and four others, including one of his sons, guilty of illegally importing unregistered vehicles and satellite phones, and sentenced them to jail terms ranging from seven to 56 years. The two tribunals were held at Insein prison, where the defendants are detained.
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