US calls for Myanmar to go before Security Council News
US calls for Myanmar to go before Security Council

[JURIST] US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton [official profile] has requested that the UN Security Council [official website] put Myanmar [CIA backgrounder] on the council's agenda for the first time, alleging that Myanmar's military rulers are destroying villages, targeting ethnic minorities, seeking nuclear power capabilities and failing to initiate democratic reforms and repressing political opponents such as pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi [advocacy website; BBC profile]. Russia and China blocked the last US attempt to get the Security Council to discuss Myanmar in June. Bolton's letter to the Security Council president was sent just two days after the military government extended the house arrest [JURIST report] of Suu Kyi, who has spent 10 of the last 16 years detained after the military took power in 1988, refusing to accept Suu Kyi's landslide election victory in 1990. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said [UN News report] he is "deeply disappointed" that Suu Kyi's detention had been extended, made possible by Myanmar's anti-subversion law [text]. Earlier this year, a UN investigator found that more than 1,100 prisoners continue to be held [JURIST report] by Myanmar's military government. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.