Myanmar's courts stretch laws -- and credibility

By Ed Cropley

YANGON (Reuters) - Not many people know that the law in military-ruled Myanmar enshrines the individual's right to criticize the government.

The only problem is, mention Section 124A of the penal code in your defense in court and you are likely to be arrested, lawyers who have suffered that very fate say.

It is just one of the many absurdities in the former Burma's court system being taken up by a small but growing number of activist lawyers in the wake of last September's monk-led pro-democracy protests.

"The monks have played their role, the actors and celebrities have played their role, and now we're playing ours," one of the lawyers, who asked not to be named for their own security, told Reuters at a safe location in the old capital, Yangon.

By their own admission, the role of defense attorney is limited in a country that has been under military rule for 46 years and which held 1,100 political prisoners, according to the United Nations, even before last year's mass arrests.

In another contravention of rights accorded to ordinary criminal suspects, lawyers for political prisoners cannot plead guilt or innocence before the court and cannot challenge any issue of law, the lawyers said.

Judgments are often handed down the same day by civilian magistrates who are "just following orders", another of the lawyers said, of a junta which appears to have inherited an obsession with rules and regulations from British colonial times.

Lawyers are also denied access to their clients in prison, meaning the only time they can see them is in the courtroom itself during a hearing. As a result, nearly all communication with prisoners has to go through family members.

"The biggest problem for us is just finding out when the hearings are," another of the lawyers said. "The authorities keep it secret about when people are going to appear in court."

SPIES EVERYWHERE

Even if they do manage to track down the right court on the right day, government spooks are on hand to listen in and note down every word that passes between lawyer and prisoner -- again in breach of the supposed right to confidentiality.

Between them, the lawyers, who cannot call themselves a "group" without breaking laws against freedom of association, are defending 67 political cases, including several top monks and former student activists picked up in September's protests.

They offer their services free of charge to political prisoners, using their commercial and criminal caseload to pay the bills -- although this is becoming harder as ordinary clients are increasingly avoiding lawyers seen as political.

Despite this, the lawyers see it as their duty to expose an "Alice in Wonderland" justice system happy to describe a photograph of a political satirist as an "offensive weapon" and sentence two comedians to seven years hard labor for cracking a joke.

"In reality, all we can do is witness and record the violations of law by the courts," one of them said.

(Editing by Michael Battye)