One-way Street

Pro-democracy activists are not the only ones who have been a part of the tortuous history of Insein Prison and Burma’s most notorious court

BURMESE lawyers call it “the one-way street,” but it is officially known as the “special court” at Insein Prison.

The accused who end up here know that their fate is sealed before they even enter a plea. The verdict is preordained, and the sentence is invariably a long stretch in Insein—Burma’s most dreaded prison—or worse.

Whatever the charge, there is never any doubt about the true nature of the offense. The allegations against the accused may be real or imagined, deadly serious or utterly ridiculous, but the “crime” is always the same: threatening the country’s despotic rulers’ hold on power.

This has been the end of the road for many of Burma’s most prominent political prisoners, as well as countless others who have fallen afoul of the powers that be. Since the Buddhist monk-led uprising of September 2007 alone, hundreds of dissidents have been legally processed here and dispatched with ruthless efficiency to the Burmese gulag.

But pro-democracy activists are not the only ones who have been robbed of long years of their lives by this kangaroo court. Often, those who come here to face summary justice are former colleagues or close associates of Burma’s military masters. When the mighty fall from grace, this is usually where they land.

Here we present a few of the better known cases of doomed defendants who have passed through the special court after losing the confidence of their supreme leader.

Ohn Kyaw Myint, the Would-be Assassin

In 1976, Capt Ohn Kyaw Myint, a personal staff officer of the then-commander in chief of the armed forces, Gen Kyaw Htin, was arrested along with a group of army officers for plotting to assassinate Gen Ne Win and other state leaders.

Accused of seeking to overthrow the Ne Win regime because they believed that the dictator’s “Burmese Way to Socialism” was leading the country to ruin, the defendants were taken before the special court at Insein Prison.

In a rare departure from its normally secretive approach to dispensing justice, the court permitted crowds of spectators to witness the proceedings. The state-run media also provided extensive coverage to a nation captivated by the courtroom drama.

The trial went on for nearly a year before it reached its inevitable conclusion: Ohn Kyaw Myint was sentenced to death by hanging.

Another prominent figure who was tried in connection with the case was Gen Tin Oo, a former commander in chief of the armed forces. He was found guilty of treason for withholding information about the coup plan and sentenced to seven years hard labor.

Two decades later, Tin Oo went on to become the vice chairman of the National League for Democracy. He is currently under house arrest for allegedly threatening state stability.

Lawyers at Capt Ohn Kyaw Myint’s trial in Insein court.

Despite the harsh sentences handed down to those deemed disloyal to Ne Win, efforts to unseat him continued. In 1978, three cadres of his Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP)—Than Sein, Tun Linn and Kyaw Zaw—secretly conspired to vote Ne Win out of power at the Third Party Congress.

The rebel cadres were purged and were subsequently accused of misappropriating party funds. They were tried by the special court and given long prison sentences.

‘MI’ Tin Oo, the Aggressive Heir Apparent

In 1983, Brig-Gen Tin Oo, the powerful director of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) and a member of the BSPP central executive committee, was tried by the special court on charges of misappropriating NIB funds.

The CIA-trained military intelligence chief—better known as “MI” Tin Oo—was generally regarded as Ne Win’s right-hand man.