Myanmar: PEN Centres around the world condemn the execution of writer Kyaw Min Yu
Photo courtesy of anonymous
26 July: PEN Centres around the world are appalled by Monday’s news that writer Kyaw Min Yu (also known as Ko Jimmy) is among four pro-democracy activists who have been executed by the military junta, following a show trial that denied their ability to establish their innocence according to international fair trial norms. According to sources, Kyaw Min Yu’s family have yet to be informed of the specific date that his execution took place.
Despite international appeals calling for their release, the military junta’s decision to carry out the executions, the first to take place in over 30 years, is yet another reminder of the cruel and unrelenting violence that the junta has waged against the people of Myanmar on a daily basis since it seized power on 1 February 2021.
‘By denying the right to appeal and other basic standards necessary for a fair trial, these judicial executions are a cynical attempt to cloak the abhorrent use of lethal force behind a veil of legality. By carrying out these executions, the military junta has once again displayed its murderous intent towards its own citizens, and the open contempt it holds towards its international human rights obligations.
The use of violence to silence Ko Jimmy and others will only increase the resolve of those who continue to use their voices to resist authoritarian rule, allowing their message to spread even further. The PEN community condemns this outrageous act of state violence by the military junta’, said Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee.
For further information on Kyaw Min Yu’s background and detention, please refer to PEN International’s previous statement.
With over 70 detainees currently facing the death penalty, the resumption of judicial executions by the military junta represents an abhorrent escalation in the use of violence against those who have been targeted for their peaceful expression. Included among those facing a potential death sentence is writer, pro-democracy activist and PEN Myanmar member, Wai Moe Naing.
We, the undersigned PEN Centres, utterly condemn the military junta’s execution of Kyaw Min Yu and other pro-democracy activists. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of all those wrongfully detained for their peaceful expression in Myanmar:
PEN International
PEN Club of Cuban Writers in Exile
PEN Canada
PEN Québec
Japan PEN Club
PEN Guatemala
PEN San Miguel
PEN America
PEN Perth
PEN Melbourne
Philippines PEN
PEN Venezuela
PEN Nigeria
PEN Zimbabwe
PEN Gambia
PEN South Africa
PEN Nepal
PEN Palestine
PEN Netherland
PEN Trieste
PEN Germany
PEN Afrikaans
Swedish PEN
PEN Norway
Wales PEN Cymru
Pen Zambia
Croatian Pen
PEN Jordan
French Pen Club
English PEN
Danish PEN
Slovene PEN
PEN Chile
PEN Kenya
PEN Belgium/Flanders
PEN Malta
PEN Armenia
PEN Ecuador
PEN Bosnia & Herzegovina
PEN Türkiye
PEN Sydney
PEN Esperanto
Irish PEN
PEN Suisse Romand
PEN Estonia
PEN Malawi
PEN Belarus
PEN Centre of German-Speaking Writers Abroad
PEN Català
Vietnamese Abroad PEN
PEN Guadalajara
PEN Eritrea
PEN Latvia
Taipei Chinese PEN
PEN Greece
PEN Scotland
PEN Uruguay
Swiss German PEN
PEN Quechua
PEN Finland
PEN Occitan
For further information please contact Ross Holder, Asia Programme Coordinator at PEN International, Unit A, Koops Mill, 162-164 Abbey Street, London, SE1 2AN, Tel.+ 44 (0) 20 7405 0338, email: ross.holder@pen-international.org