6. The Incongruous Return of Habeas Corpus to Myanmar

Cheesman, Nicholas

doi:10.1355/9789814311489-013

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The army did not deny having detained the deceased, as it has in other cases, such as in the rape and disappearance of a young mother whom soldiers abducted from farmland in an area of armed conflict in the country's north. Predictably (Cheesman ), a habeas corpus application on her behalf failed when the military insisted that it had never had her in custody ( U Dau Lum v. Lt‐Col. Zaw Myo Htut ).…”

Section: The Killing Of Ko Par Gyi and Aftermentioning

confidence: 99%

Anticipating the Struggle against Everyday Impunity in Myanmar through Accounts from Bangladesh and Thailand

Cheesman

D’Costa

Haberkorn

2016

Asia & Pacific Policy Stud

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Work done internationally to address impunity concentrates on removing blanket amnesties and establishing commissions of inquiry into past atrocities. Everyday impunity-the impossibility of bringing state officers to account for routinized violent crimes against other individuals-gets less attention, even though its effects on public life are insidious. Studying the 2014 killing of a journalist, we identify modes for the production of everyday impunity in Myanmar that emerge from earlier periods of unmediated military rule but that today are coming to resemble practices in neighbouring countries. Accounts from Bangladesh and Thailand reveal how impunity can persist in new political conditions, producing insecurity and hampering efforts for more inclusive forms of government. We close by urging scholars to remain attentive to their responsibilities in the face of impunity, calling on them not to participate in projects that have the effect of concealing violent crime by state officers, and denying victims justice.

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Section: The Killing Of Ko Par Gyi and Aftermentioning

confidence: 99%

Anticipating the Struggle against Everyday Impunity in Myanmar through Accounts from Bangladesh and Thailand

Cheesman

D’Costa

Haberkorn

2016

Asia & Pacific Policy Stud

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“…154 The Constitution also enabled writ petitions, including for habeas corpus. 155 This writ was the only avenue for appeal against detention under the Public Order (Preservation) Act. 156 By one account, within a couple of years habeas corpus had become the most popularly invoked judicial remedy in the country.…”

Section: The Struggle For Substance In the Post-colonymentioning

confidence: 99%

Rule-of-law Lineages in Colonial and Early Post-colonial Burma

Cheesman¹

2015

Mod. Asian Stud.

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These days the rule of law is often invoked in Burma. Although its contemporary salience is partly a consequence of recent global trends, the rule of law also has lineages in the country's colonial and early post-colonial periods. To examine these lineages, this article distinguishes between its procedural and substantive conceptions. Whereas the latter conception recognizes the subjects of law as freely associating equals, the former is compatible with a range of political practices, including those that are undemocratic. The records of decisions in criminal cases before Burma's superior courts during the period of British domination suggest that some semblance of procedural rule of law did exist, and that it was compatible with the rule of colonial difference. Out of this procedural rule of law a nascent, substantive type emerged during the early years of democratic life in the post-colony, before the onset of military dictatorship. The article concludes that more effort to structure interpretations of the rule of law in history might better enable discussion about the concept's continued relevance.

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“…regime collapsed under the weight of nationwide protests in 1988, the new junta that succeeded it did not hesitate to discard the people's justice system and to appoint judicial bureaucrats and administrators to take up posts in a resurrected hierarchy of professional judges. What the new judges inherited was not a body of ideologically bound law and practice, as Maung Maung would have had it, but a system characterized by judicial nonindependence and the unrule of law (Cheesman 2009). Today no soldiers are to be found in Burma's courtrooms, as in previous years. There is no longer any need for uniformed men to hear cases personally.…”

Section: Authoritarian Regimes' Responses To Judicial Independence Comentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the rise and fall of habeas corpus in parallel with that of Burma's independent judiciary, see Cheesman (: 95–96).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

How an Authoritarian Regime in Burma Used Special Courts to Defeat Judicial Independence

Cheesman¹

2011

Law Soc Rev

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Why do authoritarian rulers establish special courts? One view is that they do so to insulate the judiciary from politically oriented cases and allow it continued, albeit limited, independence. In this article I present a contrary case study of an authoritarian regime in Burma that used special courts not to insulate the judiciary but to defeat it. Through comparison to other Asian cases I suggest that the Burmese regime's composition and character better explain its strategy than does extant judicial authority or formal ideology. The regime consisted of war fighters for whom the courts were enemy territory. But absent popular support, the regime's leaders could not embark immediately on a radical project for legal change that might compromise their hold on power. Consequently, they used special courts and other strategies to defeat judicial independence incrementally, until they could displace the professional judiciary and bring the courts fully under executive control.

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6. The Incongruous Return of Habeas Corpus to Myanmar

Cited by 5 publications

References 9 publications

Anticipating the Struggle against Everyday Impunity in Myanmar through Accounts from Bangladesh and Thailand

Anticipating the Struggle against Everyday Impunity in Myanmar through Accounts from Bangladesh and Thailand

Rule-of-law Lineages in Colonial and Early Post-colonial Burma

How an Authoritarian Regime in Burma Used Special Courts to Defeat Judicial Independence

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