Calls for “political prisoners” definition rejected in parliament

YANGON: - The Burmese government has rejected calls by some lawmakers to establish legal definitions for “political prisoners” and “political offences”, reported The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

In response to the calls raised at the Lower House meeting on Thursday, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Gen Aung Soe countered that “offences against the state” as outlined in several current legal provisions could not be counted as “political offences”. He claimed that the two terms had different meanings.

He said prisoners should be treated as prisoners equally and differentiating between prisoners would amount to discrimination.

The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights organization promoting welfare of Burmese political prisoners, has lobbied for the Burmese government to establish a legal definition for “political prisoners.”

Arakan National Party lawmakers raised the issue in the Lower House, saying that establishing legal definitions of the two terms would protect political activists from being treated as criminals while in prison and would also pave the way for reparation to be given to many former political prisoners who suffered human rights violations and incarceration.

The NLD government earlier pledged to establish definition for political prisoners and would not arrest anyone for political reasons.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/165875


-- Thai PBS 2016-06-03

Same bullshit as here, eh?