Burma: Junta Detain 20 Pro-Democracy Activists

Burma: Junta Detain 20 Pro-Democracy Activists

Burma's brutal junta has detained more than 20 political activists as they marched through the northwestern city of Sittwe earlier this week in a peaceful rally against the military proposed constitution.

Also arrested was Myo Nyunt, a close aide of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He was taken from his Rangoon home early on Tuesday morning.

The arrests come ahead of the country's May 10 referendum on a new constitution that critics say was drafted to perpetuate military rule.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN human rights investigator for Burma, dismissed the May 10 referendum that is part of the isolated regime's "road map to democracy".

The junta has refused to grant Pinheiro a visa to return to Burma following his last trip in November, when he said he believed at least 31 pro-democracy demonstrators were killed when troops opened fire during last September's "Saffron Revolution".

ENDS

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