EU Concerned by the Arrests in Burma/Myanmar

Submitted by Anastvatz on Wed, 2007-08-29 09:12.

Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on the arrests of democracy activists in Burma/Myanmar

The European Union views with concern the recent arrests by the Government of Burma/Myanmar of several leaders of the opposition, notably from the group “Generation 88”, who were protesting against the sharp rise of fuel prices and the economic burdens being heaped on the Burmese people.

The European Union condemns this decision to detain individuals who were exercising their basic right to peaceful demonstration.
The European Union further urges the authorities of Burma/Myanmar to release without delay Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leaders and political prisoners, in particular those arrested in the last few days, and to engage with all different components of the society of Burma/Myanmar in the sort of open and inclusive dialogue which is indispensable to long-awaited political reforms.

The Candidate Countries Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia and Georgia align themselves with this declaration.

* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process. -http://www.eu2007.pt