Please find bellow a PR on the life lettering (from protesters’ bodies) of the words: FREE SUU KYI!, where over 100 people from Czech Republic supported the Burmese dissident on her birthday.
Press release
Czech Supporters of Suu Kyi Make Up a Life Lettering Calling for Her Release
Prague, 18 June 2009 – Czech supporters of Burmese dissidents used their bodies to form a living inscription „FREE SUU KYI“, calling for the release from prison of Aung San Suu Kyi. The event, which was organized in the centre of Prague by People in Need, Burma Centre Prague and Amnesty International on the eve of Suu Kyi` s 64th birthday, was attended by more than 100 people, including a number of outstanding figures of Czech politics and culture. The inscription can be seen on the photograph.
People dressed in white t-shirts, a symbol of freedom, formed a living inscription “FREE SUU KYI”, the photograph of which will be given to Burmese exile media. “Last year, we also made a group photo as a birthday wish for Suu Kyi. Many activists in Burma thanked us for it. For them this always means big support, because they can see that in other countries people don`t forget about them,” says a People in Need coordinator Marie Zahradníková.
The meeting was also attended by several politicians, mainly by members of the European Parliamentary Committee for Burma (EPCB) – by senator Jaromír Št?tina and by deputies Tomáš Dub, Jan Hamá?ek, Kate?ina Jacques and Petr Bratský.
Speaking about today` s initiative, Petr Bratský, a deputy and a member of the executive committee of EPCB, said: “Both Czech and European MPs must do their best to enforce a global arms embargo against Burma in order to stop lively trade conducted by some countries including China.”
Aung San Suu Kyi is currently the only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate in the world. On June 19, she will celebrate her 64th birthday in the Insein prison where she is awaiting the resumption of her judicial trial. Suu Kyi has been accused of breaking the rules of her house arrest after an American citizen John William Yettaw had entered her house. The trial, which might end in up to a 5-year prison sentence, has been suspended until June 26.
Events in support of Aung San Suu Kyi on the occasion of her birthday have been traditionally held not only in the Czech Republic but around the whole world. Demonstrations, screenings, debates and conferences on Burma take place in London, Bangkok, New York, Tokio and in many other towns. A list of most initiatives is available on www.64forsuu.org.
This website also provides space for letters and audio-visual messages which are sent to Suu Kyi by people from around the world. One of the messages which are published on this site comes from Czech foreign minister Jan Kohout who uploaded his video message for the Burmese dissident on June 15. Notes were also sent by 107 former political prisoners from many different countries, among them Václav Havel.
For more information please contact:
Marie Zahradníková
Coordinator of Burmese projects, People in Need
Tel: 226 200 460
GSM: +420 739 220 248
E-mail: marie.zahradnikova@
Marie Pe?inová
Head of Burmese projects, People in Need
GSM: +420 777 787 975
E-mail: marie.perinova@clovekvtisni.cz