[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 3


MYANMAR:

Chinese National, Accused of Murder, Allegedly Executed in Mong La


Accounts surfaced this week that authorities in Mong La, a special 
administrative region known as a hub for illicit activity on the Sino-Burmese 
border, may have executed a Chinese national after he was found guilty of 
homicide and arson.

A statement bearing the official Mong La government stamp, published in the 
media outlet of an ethnic Kokang rebel group, announced that a 42-year-old man 
from Hunan Province had "murdered, made arson, bomb attacks and so on," and was 
to be executed by gunfire on Jan. 30.

A "court investigation" found him guilty of illegal arms possession and 
carrying out an arson attack resulting in the deaths of 7 people and the injury 
of 4 others, according to the statement, which appeared to have been issued by 
a regional court.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity, a Mong La resident said 
that last week a man was paraded through the town on the back of a truck and 
brought to the local football stadium, where hundreds of people had gathered.

"They did not execute him at the football stadium, they killed him on top of a 
mountain," said the woman, who attended the public spectacle on the sporting 
grounds. She said armed guards explained that the condemned man was a criminal 
and would be shot to death, before they drove him out of view.

Photographs of the procession and the packed football field were uploaded on a 
Facebook community page called "Ethnic Region Military Information," which has 
more than 27,000 followers. The post was shared almost 1,000 times as of 
Wednesday morning. The account regularly posts updates about armed ethnic 
groups, but the identity of its administrators is unknown and its content has 
not been verified by any official rebel-affiliated sources.

When contacted by The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, Mong La Governor Sai Mauk said he 
was unaware of the incident as he was in Kunming, China, at the time it was 
said to have occurred. Mong La, also known as Shan State Special Region 4, is 
controlled by a non-state armed group called the National Democratic Alliance 
Army (NDAA), and enjoys a high degree of autonomy from the central government.

The region, which borders China's Yunan Province, has a reputation as a nexus 
of illegal activity; Mong La's eponymous main town is home to sprawling casinos 
and brothels, and is a known destination for wildlife traffickers. Local 
authorities have estimated that about 800 vehicles enter Mong La from China 
every day for purposes of sex, gambling and trade. Despite its debauchery, Mong 
La is also reputed for strict and selective law enforcement, dealing 
heavy-handed punishments without due process.

While district-level courts in autonomous zones are authorized to issue the 
death penalty, the ruling would be subject to appeal at a national court, 
according to Sam Zarifi, regional director of the International Commission of 
Jurists (ICJ).

"If this is in fact an Autonomous zone district court, there should have been 
an appeal process," Zarifi told The Irrawaddy via email. "So, if the report is 
true, it's a major problem for the rule of law in the country."

Overextending the zone's judicial authority would be particularly problematic 
with regard to capital punishment, as Burma is considered a de facto 
abolitionist state and has not openly carried out an execution in decades. 
Further complicating matters is that the prisoner was a foreign national, and 
it is unclear whether he had access to consular support.

Zarifi said Burma "should not be even considering bringing back the death 
penalty in practice now, and especially not for a foreign national, based on an 
opaque judicial process that faces serious questions about its fairness and 
credibility and sits essentially outside the national legal system."

(source: The Irrawaddy)