Geneva - Five United Nations experts condemned Tuesday what they said were "severe convictions and the unfair trials" of prisoners accused of involvement in last year's anti-government protests in Myanmar. Last week, a dozen detainees were each given 65-year prison sentences and more than 20 others, including five monks, received 24-year imprisonment terms, the experts said in a statement, noting that others still awaited sentencing.
A popular blogger, arrested several months after the protests were quelled, was also sentenced to over 20 years in jail.
The so-called Saffron Revolution last summer was lead by monks and ended in a military crackdown that left more than 30 dead, hundreds missing and thousands in prisons.
The group of UN experts, which include Tomas Ojea Quintana, the Special Rapporteurs on human rights in Myanmar, criticized the arbitrary detention of "dozens of individuals who were arrested in connection with peaceful demonstrations in Myanmar."
The five said the prisoners deserved new and fair trials which the current military regime was not allowing. They also called for democratic reforms in the Asian country.
A journalist recently received two years in prison for trying to cover protests by victims of Cyclone Nargis which hit Myanmar earlier this year.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The country's best known opposition figure, Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy party, has been under house arrest since May 2003.
