U.N. rep investigates Myanmar death toll
YANGON, Myanmar - A U.N. envoy who returned to Myanmar after a four-year ban visited a notorious prison for political prisoners Monday as he began investigating how many people were killed and detained in a crackdown on demonstrators.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the U.N.’s independent human-rights investigator for Myanmar, spent at least two hours at the Insein prison in Yangon, which over the years has held numerous political prisoners. Many former inmates describe torture, abysmal conditions and long stretches in solitary confinement. Details of his visit were not known.
Pinheiro had said he was determined to gain access to prisons and other sites to assess allegations of abuse. In March 2003, the envoy abruptly cut short a visit to Myanmar after finding a listening device in a prison room where he was interviewing political detainees.
Later that year, Pinheiro accused the ruling military junta of making “absurd” excuses to keep political opponents in prison.
He had been barred from the country since November 2003.
Pinheiro also met Monday with senior Buddhist abbots and visited two monasteries involved in the pro-democracy protests, the U.N. said. The protests were led by Buddhist monks.
Pinheiro also consulted with senior officials from the ministries of Home Affairs and Law Enforcement, the Yangon office of the ruling junta and Yangon General Hospital, according to the U.N.
Myanmar authorities said 10 people were killed when troops opened fire on crowds of peaceful protesters in Yangon on Sept. 26 and 27. Diplomats and dissidents say the death toll was much higher and that an unknown number of people remain in custody.
Pinheiro’s trip comes three days after the departure of U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who attempted during a six-day visit to kick-start talks between the junta and the pro-democracy opposition.
As a result of Gambari’s trip, detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed to meet the leaders of her opposition party Friday for the first time in three years.