Protesters hold up a three finger salute against the Myanmar junta
Credit: AFP
The European Union is set to impose sanctions today on 11 individuals linked to the February 1 coup in Myanmar as the murder rate has become ‘unbearable’.
Arriving in Brussels for a meeting with his EU counterparts, Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, said the measures would target those responsible for violence on the streets and were not designed to punish the population.
"The number of murders has reached an unbearable extent, which is why we will not be able to avoid imposing sanctions," Mr Maas told reporters.
"We don’t intend to punish the people of Myanmar but those who blatantly violate human rights," he added.
Nearly 250 deaths have been confirmed in the weeks since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, although the true toll could be higher.
More casualties were reported over the weekend.
It was also reported that an Australian couple has been placed under house arrest by Myanmar’s junta after being denied permission to fly out of the troubled Southeast Asian nation
Matthew O’Kane and Christa Avery, a duel Australian-Canadian national, run a bespoke consultancy in the commercial city of Yangon, focusing on energy, infrastructure and agriculture projects.
According to the Australian media, they were told to return home after Ms Avery tried to board a relief flight on Friday back to Australia but was blocked from doing so.
Australia’s foreign ministry confirmed on Sunday it was providing consular assistance to two of its nationals in Myanmar but gave no further details due to “privacy obligations.”
Canada’s global affairs department said it was aware of a case involving a Canadian citizen and was “providing consular services.”
The couple’s de facto detention follows the arrest of another Australian national, Sean Turnell, shortly after the February 1 coup.
Anti-coup protesters demonstrate with red balloons
Credit: AP
Mr Turnell, an economist, who was working as an adviser to detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was accused by the military on state television of attempting to flee Myanmar with “secret state financial information”.
His supporters have dismissed the allegations and his wife, Ha Vu, stressed that her husband had done nothing to deserve being detained. He has not been formally charged and Marisa Payne, the Australian foreign minister, has repeatedly called for his release.
It remains unclear why Ms Avery was not allowed to depart on Friday.
Her work in Myanmar has included providing development capital to infrastructure projects under a programme supported by the UK’s Department for International Development. The Foreign Office was contacted for comment.
Her friend, Tim Harcourt, told the Sydney Morning Herald that she had spent a decade in the country dedicated to the cause of development in Myanmar.
“She’s in a group of Aussies that have gone over there and tried to help with the development of Myanmar after it went back to democracy, temporarily as it turned out,” said Mr Harcourt, an economist.
“She is someone who had her heart in the right place. She’s not a threat to any regime, she’s just trying to help the Burmese people.”
Protesters take cover in Mandalay
Credit: Reuters
Australia on March 7 suspended a military cooperation programme with Myanmar but has not announced additional sanctions since the junta’s takeover and did not sign a joint statement over the weekend by the by US, UK and European Union ambassadors condemning the military’s violent crackdown against anti-coup protesters.
Protesters faced another violent crackdown over the weekend.
Video recorded in the city of Mandalay showed a motorcyclist apparently being shot off his motorbike by police on an empty street.
As the people who recorded the video shout “He’s been hit! He’s been hit! Go and rescue him!” police quickly appeared and led him away on foot. It is not known what happened to the man or how badly he was hurt.
The AAPP has also confirmed 2,345 people have been arrested or charged since the coup, with 1,994 still detained or sought for arrest. Among those arrested have been 40 journalists.
However, in a more positive development, detained BBC journalist Aung Thur was reported to have been released, days after he was take away by men in plain clothes while reporting outside a court in the capital, Naypyitaw.
Local media reported that Than Htike Aung, a reporter for Mizzima, who was also detained on March 19, has yet to be freed.
The military has also revoked the licences of five media companies.
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