Monk Gambira to be tried for "illegal occupation"
Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The dissident
Burmese Monk Ashin Gambira - among the hundreds of political prisoners released
last month by President Thein Sein - will again be brought to trial. The
state newspaper New Light of Myanmar,
confirms that the 33-year old Buddhist religious is accused of "illegal
occupation" of a monastery in Yangon and of
raiding two others, that the government had sealed off after the "Saffron Revolution". The
authorities, the newspaper adds, "are taking the legal measures necessary
to bring him to order", with the support of the senior monks that
"blame" his behavior and ask for "punitive measures"
against him.
Gambira
was released from prison in January, following the provision of amnesty decided
by the Head of State. On
10 February, less than a month after his release (see AsiaNews 13/01/2012 High
profile Burmese political prisoners freed), he was detained by
police, questioned and released several hours later. The
dissident monk has spent the last three years in prison for leading the September
2007 revolt - renamed the Saffron Revolution because of the color of the robes
of the monks - violently repressed by the military junta.
The
Burmese court had sentenced Gambira to 68 years in prison, reduced to 32 in a second trial held in
2008. During
his detention he was repeatedly tortured, but his release, along with hundreds
of other prisoners of conscience, seemed to confirm the reforms initiated by
the "civil" government in its attempts to reinstate itself fully within
the community International
and obtain the chairmanship of ASEAN countries - an association that brings
together 10 nations of South-East Asia - in
2014.
Since
his release, he has repeatedly violated the terms of probation in raiding
monasteries closed by the authorities or giving interviews critical of the
political leadership (see AsiaNews 17/01/2012 Ashin
Gambira: fake reform, the Burmese government violates human rights and
religious freedom), in which he says he does not believe the
promises of the executive and doubts its image of openness to the world.
Interviewed
on the proceedings against Gambira, Victoria Nuland, U.S. State Department
spokesman, remembers the promises of reform made by the Burmese Government and
urges the authorities to "protect the fundamental freedoms" of all
citizens, including "those recently released after a period of detention. "
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