THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE RESOLUTION

INTRODUCED BY JOSEPHS, GEORGE, COHEN, READSHAW, REICHLEY, MUNDY, SIPTROTH, YOUNGBLOOD, GINGRICH, DENLINGER, BRADFORD, RAPP, MURT AND MELIO, JULY 20, 2009

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, JULY 20, 2009  

A RESOLUTION

Calling on the United Nations to facilitate the immediate and

unconditional release of National League for Democracy leader

Dr. Aung San Suu Kyi from continued detention by the Burmese

military government.

WHEREAS, The House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of

Pennsylvania recognize and condemn the Burmese military junta's

unlawful and cruel treatment of more than 2,000 political

prisoners, including Dr. Suu Kyi; and

WHEREAS, Burma's military government has subjected the Nobel

Peace Prize laureate to house arrest since 1989; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Suu Kyi was initially detained for pro-reform

demonstrations as a founder of the National League for

Democracy; and

WHEREAS, Myanmar's 1975 State Protection Act empowers the

government to hold persons for up to five years without trial;

and

WHEREAS, The government has illegally extended Dr. Suu Kyi's

detention, providing for her repeated release and reconfinement;

and

WHEREAS, Dr. Suu Kyi's detention period beginning in May 2003

was illegally extended for one year on May 27, 2008, and was

officially lifted on May 26, 2009; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Suu Kyi is now an inmate of Insein Prison,

facing trial and conviction for violating the terms of her house

arrest; and

WHEREAS, The charges stem from an incident on May 14, 2009,

when John William Yettaw, an American who illegally entered

Burma, swam to Dr. Suu Kyi's waterfront home and sheltered

there, pleading exhaustion; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Suu Kyi's own health is deteriorating as her

confinement has been illegally extended; and

WHEREAS, Dehydration, low blood pressure and dangerous weight

loss are some of the physical conditions Dr. Suu Kyi is believed

to have developed; and

WHEREAS, Security forces detained Dr. Suu Kyi's personal

physician, Dr. Tin Myo Win, after having denied him entry to her

home in May 2009; and

WHEREAS, The United States State Department has said that

Burmese authorities are pursuing unjustified and indefensible

charges against Dr. Suu Kyi; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Suu Kyi's extended detainment violates

international law; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Suu Kyi's extended detainment violates Burma's

domestic legislation; and

WHEREAS, Various governments, international agencies and

nongovernmental organizations have called for the immediate

release of Dr. Suu Kyi; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania call on the United Nations to

facilitate the immediate and unconditional release of National

League for Democracy leader Dr. Aung Suu Kyi from continued

detention by the Burmese military government; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Ambassador Susan Rice in care

of the United States Mission to the United Nations in New York,

140 East 45th Street, New York, NY 10017.