MYANMAR. 24 SHAN FIGHTERS SENTENCED TO DEATH

March 4, 2006: 24 members of the Shan State Army South (SSA-S) Brigade – 241, including its commander Sa Khun Kyaw who surrendered to the Burmese army earlier in the year, were sentenced to death by a martial court inside Lashio Prison in the northern Shan State near the Sino-Burmese border. The prisoners were then transferred to Mandalay Jail in central Burma. The Shan fighters had been charged with drug-trafficking, murder and the use of child soldiers. A spokeswoman of SSA-S refuted the accusations of the junta. (Sources: DVB News, 10/03/2006)