President. 15 years ago, the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize to the Burmese opposition leader, Mrs Aung San Suu Kyi. In a few days time, she will reach her 60th birthday, that is to say, 15 years will have passed four times, but she is still under arrest. She is the only Sakharov Prize winner who has not been able to receive her prize after more than 3 500 days in captivity. I felt I should point this out, because it may have been forgotten.

It may also have been forgotten that, in 1990, her party, the National League for Democracy, received 80% of the votes in the parliamentary elections, 80%, but it could not take power because of the Burmese military regime. And, despite the frequent and constant appeals from this Parliament, despite the European Union’s sanctions, despite the condemnation of several bodies of the United Nations, the Burmese regime is continuing its campaign of ethnic cleansing and systematic abuse of human rights. Human Rights Watch recently accused that regime of the systematic violation of human rights, torture and executions.

I therefore believe it appropriate, on behalf of this Parliament, for us all to renew our call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and her fellow political prisoners and express our complete condemnation of the abuses of the Burmese regime.

(Applause)