“If we compare their sentence with other death penalty cases, they committed crimes for which they should have been sentenced to death several times,” said Zaw Min Tun, during a press briefing in the city. capital Naypyidaw.

“They have hurt innocent people in cruel ways. There have been too many losses that cannot be replaced,” he continued.

The spokesman spoke for the first time, the day after the announcement by an official media of the execution of four prisoners sentenced to death.

Among them are Phyo Zeya Thaw, 41, a rap pioneer and former deputy of the pro-democracy party of ousted former civilian leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi, and Kyaw Min Yu, 53, known as “Jimmy”, famous opponent in military power since the August 1988 uprising.

Arrested in November and sentenced to death in January, Phyo Zeya Thaw was accused by the junta of having orchestrated several attacks which contributed to the death of 21 people, including nine members of the security forces, according to Zaw Min Tun.

Kyaw Min Yu was found guilty of inciting rebellion with his social media posts.

– Demonstration in Bangkok –

The other two prisoners executed are two men accused of killing a woman they suspected of being a junta informant.

“The death sentence is pronounced by the court after they have been given the right to defend themselves at every stage of the legal proceedings (…). They have had the right to appeal as well as to submit a letter of petition”, assured the spokesperson.

In Yangon, the economic capital of Burma, where the four death row inmates were held, the families concerned hoped to recover the bodies.

“I was told (at the prison) that they don’t usually return the body. If so, I asked to collect his ashes. I want to bury his body, if possible. I was also told no to that too,” Phyo Zeya Thaw’s mother told Radio Free Asia.

In the past 24 hours, much of the international community has condemned these “cruel and regressive” actions, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet.

Dozens of people gathered on Tuesday in front of the Burmese embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, a border country where many Burmese live, to denounce this “injustice”.

– “Crime against humanity” –

“We are protesting to stop the unjust actions of torture and killing by the military, and to restore human rights for Burmese citizens,” Ayeaye Khaing, a Burmese protester who works in Thailand, told AFP.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to which Burma belongs, said on Tuesday that it was “extremely disturbed and deeply saddened” by these “highly reprehensible” executions.

“A crime against humanity,” Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said on Tuesday.

These executions risk accentuating the international isolation of the Burmese military, who seized power by force on February 1, 2021 under the pretext of alleged fraud in the elections of the previous year, won overwhelmingly by the party of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The junta continues a bloody repression, with more than 2,000 civilians killed and more than 15,000 arrested since the coup, according to a local NGO.

Since the coup, dozens of death sentences have been handed down by courts whose legitimacy is disputed by the international community. A report by United Nations experts warned in June that executions could accelerate if there is no response.

Among those arrested is former leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, who faces multiple charges that could bring her up to 150 years in prison in total.