HL Deb 05 November 1991 vol 532 cc5-6WA
Lord Trefgarne

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What information they have about other detained leaders of the democratic movement in Burma following the recent publicity about the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi of the National League for Democracy in Burma.

The Earl of Caithness

It is difficult to verify the number of political detainees in Burma held since the suppression of the democracy movement in 1988. Local estimates suggest the number may be around 2,000, including many hundreds of party workers from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party. This total also includes at least 55 out of 485 MPs elected in the 1990 democratic elections, the results of which have been ignored. Of the leaders apart from Aung San Suu Kyi, the former NLD chairman U Tin U was sentenced to three years' hard labour in December 1989; U Kyi Maung, the former acting chairman, was initially given a three years' sentence in November 1990, subsequently extended a further 10 years; U Nu, the former Prime Minister, remains under house arrest imposed in December 1989. We have repeatedly called in public statements for the release of all political detainees in Burma.