Prisoners have to pay not to be beaten

(October 2009)

Article published in Union View n°15, also available at

http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/VS_Burma_EN.pdf

Burmese political prisoners go through hell during their long periods in detention. One of them, recently released, agreed to recount his experience.

According to Human Rights Watch, there are currently over 2100 political prisoners in Burma, more than double the figure registered at the beginning of 2007. On its "2100 by 2100" campaign website (1), which is asking for the release of all political prisoners before next year’s elections, the NGO explains that since the end of 2008 over 300 activists, including politicians, human rights and labour rights activists, artists, journalists, blog writers, and Buddhist monks and nuns, have been condemned to heavy prisonsentences in closed proceedings and trials held inside prisons. Some of the sentences exceed 100 years.

The Insein prison in Rangoon is notorious for the number of political prisoners incarcerated there, including members of the FTUB (Federation of Trade Unions - Burma). One former prisoner, released four months ago, recounts what he saw in the prison: "It is prior to their sentencing that political prisoners are tortured the most severely. They are then placed more under psychological pressure, designed to make them crack. The guards lead them to believe that they have put something in the water to make them impotent, for example. Other techniques often used to break political prisoners’ morale include placing them in solitary confinement, blindfolding them or placing a bag over their head for long periods of time, etc."

The former prisoner, now a member of the FTUB, also denounced the extortion faced by prisoners: "The prison guards only earn 30,000 kyats (27 dollars) a month, which is by no means enough to give their families a decent life. As a result, they try to extract money from the prisoners, who are beaten if they do not pay. The prison doctors are quite competent, but they are also paid a pittance. As the conditions are better in the medical ward than in the cells at Insein prison, the doctors agree to prescribe more or less long stays there in return for money. Only the better-off prisoners can afford this type of stay in the medical wing."

"Even animals are treated better than prisoners in Burma. During Cyclone Nargis, a group of prisoners at Insein set fire to part of the prison and had almost managed to escape when they came face to face with brutal repression. Numerous gunshots were fired and two people were killed. Around a hundred prisoners considered to be the leaders were tortured for two weeks. The guards even refused to give them anything to drink during this period; they would drink water from small puddles on the floor."

                                                                              Samuel Grumiau

(1) http://www.hrw.org/en/free-burmas-prisoners/intro