Legal Opinion on Aung San Suu Kyi

Legal Opinion on Case 02-2015: Myanmar

Monday 23 January 2017

Due to the continuing genocidal persecution of the Rohingya People by the Myanmar army, which continues to carry out ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity against this group, it will then be determined whether the facts submited constitute an act of Complicity on the part of the the new government of Myanmar, which is currently led by Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize.

I.                   Description of the Case

At the beginning of 2015, when the International Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights was created in the first two cases, it was not only analyzed and sentenced the false Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu of Myanmar for Discrimination, Social Segregation and Apology of Violence, but also the military government of Myanmar presided over by Thein Sein had previously been sentenced with the charges of Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes against humanity, being something that very few organizations worldwide dared to denounce at that moment. The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights immediately communicated with the countries of the Southeast Asia region, such as Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, which were notified that the thousands of members of the Rohingya People arriving in their countries were not immigrants but refugees fleeing from genocide, reason by which they should be received and protected according to what is established in international human rights treaties. Although these countries began to receive the thousands of refugees, and even Malaysia agreed that it was about ethnic cleansing, the Rohingya People continued to be persecuted and massacred in Myanmar. After the change of government, former President Thein Sein sought impunity for his international crimes when attempting to become a Buddhist monk, something that was quickly declared as illegal in a historical Resolution of the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights. At the same time, the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights judged the Myanmar State Buddhist Committee for Genocide and Crimes against Humanity in another historical trial. However, with the change of government in Myanmar, the current Minister Aung San Suu Kyi not only did not initiate a trial against Thein Sein for human rights violations, but she allowed the army to continue and further aggravate the genocidal acts and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya People. With respect to the abovementioned complicity, the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights proceeds to issue the following ethical legal opinion.

II.               Preliminary Warning

The International Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights evaluates violations of ethics and human rights, so that its legal framework is the Buddhist Tribal Law and International Law. These procedures are millennial and intrinsic to the system of self-government of the spiritual commune (sangha), although it has the innovation of the universal jurisdiction which allows the analysis of violations of other communities and countries.

III.            Personal Backround of the Accused

In order to analyze in the present case the existence of an act of Complicity on the part of Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and current de Facto  President of Myanmar, it is fundamental to offer the antecedents of the accused. Although she was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize about two decades ago, supposedly for promoting democracy, human rights and ethnic reconciliation by peaceful means, the fact is that Aung San Suu Kyi currently holds a de facto presidency in Myanmar which violates the principles of democracy, while covering-up and not criticizing the systematic and widespread violations of human rights carried out by the army with total impunity, thus endorsing genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya People. Her ambition to keep political power with the cost of impunity, making a spurious pact with Myanmar's genocidal military forces by not denouncing the repression, persecution and extermination of ethnic minorities, is one of the greatest disappointments in the history of human rights and world peace. Myanmar's army continues to persecute, torture, sexually abuse, illegally arrest, displacing, confiscating and murdering with impunity the ethnic minorities Kachin, Karen and Shan, even by burning babies. The silence and complicity of Aung San Suu Kyi in the face of the atrocities and genocide suffered by the Rohingya People has led to a dozen Nobel Peace Laureates protesting to the UN about this situation. In addition to have a duty to exercise political authority in Myanmar always in a way that is consistent with International Law, Aung San Suu Kyi should also exercise her ethical authority as a former Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which shows that this award no longer can continue to be synonymous with ethics, righteouness and defense of fundamental freedoms. However, twelve Nobel Peace Prize winners - along with the support of other international leaders - have tried to differentiate themselves from the illegal and genocidal actions of Aung San Suu Kyi, denouncing that in Myanmar there are crimes against humanity and there is also banning of humanitarian assistance to the victims, violating the human rights of the Rohingya People, so that the Nobel Peace Prize group called for an immediate halt to these ethnic cleansing crimes, and for Aung San Suu Kyi to rule with courage, humanity and compassion. Although this international ethical claim called for urgent UN intervention in Myanmar, this organization has omitted its responsibility to prevent and punish the crime of genocide. The twelve Nobel Peace Prize winners were Muhammad Yunus, Jose Ramos-Horta, Máiread Maguire, Betty Williams, Desmond Tutu, Oscar Arias, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Tawakkol Karman, Leymah Gbowee, Malala Yousafzai and Sir Richard J. Roberts.

IV.            Complicity with Violations of Human Rights

After describing the case together with the defendant's background, the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights is in a position to rule on Aung San Suu Kyi's Complicity with the massive and systematic violations of human rights in Myanmar, which are the more serious international crimes, such as Genocide, Ethnic cleansing and Crimes against humanity. In Myanmar there continue to be rape of women and mass murders, using the excuse of an alleged counterinsurgency campaign against "rohingyas militias" that do not exist, because in fact it hides a dark and malicious plan of ethnic cleansing, because these are attacks against unprotected civilians, many of whom are beheaded or burned alive. These atrocities not only include killings but also massive and systematic sexual violations against women and girls, using abuse as a weapon of war. In the face of this genocide, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya People have fled to other countries, where they almost have no food or medical treatment, and most are not allowed to enter. The current government continues to deny that these violations of human rights are occurring, further alleging that it is the Rohingya People who are destroying their own homes. Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the de Facto President of Myanmar, even defends the military that devastated her country and detained her for 15 years, who murdered dozens of Buddhist monks and denied the most basic human rights to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya People. Many UN officials have denounced that these facts are an ethnic cleansing, although the UN has never decided to investigate or bring those responsible before the international courts. At the same time, Aung San Suu Kyi has confirmed that she is defending the genocidal crimes committed by the Myanmar army, by refusing to interfere when denying that human rights violations are occurring. Aung San Suu Kyi has defended and covered up the illegal actions by Myanmar's army, while she has also accused the international community of promoting riots and conflicts between Muslims and Buddhists. Aung San Suu Kyi has stated that she seeks to maintain control, peace and stability within Myanmar; although systematic and widespread massacres prove that she is seeking to maintain her political power at the cost of defending the extermination of a whole people. In this way, it is an international shame that someone who received a Nobel Peace Prize is leading genocide, legitimizing ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity through their complicit silence. Although the international community has been able to idolize Aung San Suu Kyi as a human rights icon, her present behavior and thirst for power has made her one of the worst criminals in the world, to whom her Nobel Prize should be removed urgently and whom should be brought before the international courts. Although the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights does not have any political and economic power to sanction or stop the genocide led by Aung San Suu Kyi, it certainly has supreme ethical and spiritual power to accuse her of Complicity with ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, declaring its Nobel Peace Prize null and illegal.

V.                Conclusion

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights has the Purpose (Dharma) to defend liberty, equality and fraternity of all humanity, promoting the enjoyment of human rights and respect for the dharmic nature of all sentient beings. The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights has found sufficient evidence to confirm a legal Opinion against Aung San Suu Kyi for "Complicity" with Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes against Humanity. In accordance with international human rights treaties, the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights guarantees the right to life, the right to peace, the right to justice and the right to health, all of which have been violated systematically and in a widespread way. These violations were committed both by the de facto presidents Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi. The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights concludes that the Rohingya People is not having access to physical, mental, social and spiritual health, this being totally caused by the illegal government of Myanmar.

Ergo, the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights rules as follow:

1.      It is stated that Myanmar's refusal to provide full and effective access to life, health, citizenship, labor and Justice constitute illegal conducts on the part of the country's political and military Power.

2.      International courts are requested to investigate and prosecute Myanmar for crimes of Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes against Humanity, in the same way as the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights did in 2015.

3.      All neighbor countries of Myanmar, especially Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and China, are required to receive and do not forcibly expel the thousands of refugees fleeing from the genocide in Myanmar, since such expulsion is a crime against humanity.

4.      The UN is required to stop covering up the government of Myanmar and to adequately stop the genocidal acts of said government.

5.      The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi is declared illegal and the Norwegian Nobel Committee is given 5 days in order to respond if it accepts this international request to cancel the award.

6.        It is stated that the indifference to this Opinion on the part of the highest authorities of the UN as well as by the Norwegian Nobel Committee constitute an act of Complicity with the illegal and criminal actions that have been denounced.

Always with a reconciling spirit,

Buddhist Master Maitreya

President of the International Buddhist Ethics Committee & Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights