Burma: from life sentence to freedom in one week
General Mutu Saipo (C), a representative of the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) toasting with Myanmar Railway Minister Aung Min (2nd L), Industry Minister Soe Thein (2nd R) and Immigration Minister Khin Yee (R) during a welcoming dinner held on the eve of talks between KNU leaders and a Myanmar government delegation, on Jan. 11, 2012 in Hpa-An, the main city of the country’s eastern Karen state.
Since Myanmar's government is attempting to end its decades-old conflicts, I wrote last week, it seemed counter-productive that authorities recently sentenced a key rebel leader to life in prison.
Turns out the man charged with "high treason" — a senior leader named Nyein Maung with the armed Karen ethnic group — is already free under a presidential decree, according to the AP.
In last week's post, I reasoned that the leader's immediate release "would posit the leader of Burma's reform bonanza — President Thein Sein — as a compassionate voice of reason and perhaps help nudge the negotiations forward. It's a good cop, bad cop routine."
It will be interesting to see if this judicial about-face nudges forward peace talks to end the world's longest-running civil war.
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