Socialist International vigorously protests the sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi and calls for firm action on Burma

The Socialist International is appalled at the persistence of the military junta in Burma in defying worldwide outcries demanding the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi, by condemning her to a further one and a half years of house arrest.

This latest mockery of justice by the illegal military regime which has kept her under house arrest for fourteen of the past twenty years confirms the urgent need for the international community to act now, decisively and concertedly, to stop the abuses of human rights and fundamental freedoms perpetrated against the Burmese people, by putting into place effective economic sanctions and an arms embargo. The United Nations Security Council should take action without delay.

The Socialist International repudiates the intentions of the military junta to carry out elections next year under these conditions and reiterates its full solidarity with Aung San Suu Kyi, who is a Special Honorary President of our International, with the National League for Democracy, and with the people of Burma in their courageous struggle for freedom and democracy.