Condemning The Actions Of The Burmese State Peace And Development Council

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise to note passage of a Senate resolution on Burma. This resolution reflects the U.S. Senate's unequivocal condemnation of the show trial currently being conducted by Burmese officials against Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. It is bad enough that Suu Kyi has been imprisoned for 13 of the past 19 years. Now the Burmese regime, the State Peace and Development Council, has come up with the flimsiest of pretexts to try to detain her further. It appears the regime will do anything to consolidate its grip on power. One suspects that the regime wants Suu Kyi behind bars at least until elections under its sham constitution are held in 2010.

I am gratified that this resolution reflects the strong, bipartisan view of the Senate on this matter. This resolution, which was authored by Senator Gregg, is cosponsored by Senators Feinstein, Durbin, McCain, Brownback, Lieberman, Collins, Bennett, Bond and me. It is also cosponsored by the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senators Kerry and Lugar. A clearer signal from this chamber about Suu Kyi could hardly be sent.

As I noted earlier in the week, the members of the Senate have been and will continue to monitor the trial of Suu Kyi with deep concern.

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