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Myanmar junta sentences teacher to death on murder, terror charges

January 5, 2023/in News

Nearly 100 people have been handed the death penalty for opposing the regime that seized power nearly two years ago A junta-controlled court sentenced a primary school teacher to death last Friday for his alleged role in the killing of a suspected military informant in Ayeyarwady Region’s Myan Aung Township more than a year ago, […]

Myanmar’s junta pardons more than 7,000 prisoners

January 5, 2023/in News

The Independence Day amnesty includes a former National League for Democracy minister, authors and journalists. UPDATED AT 4:44 p.m. ET on 01-04-2023 Myanmar’s military rulers ordered the release of 7,012 inmates, including some political prisoners, in an Independence Day amnesty Wednesday. Detainees held in prisons and police stations across the country had their sentences reduced […]

Myanmar junta sentences teacher to death on murder, terror charges

January 5, 2023/in News

Myanmar’s junta pardons more than 7,000 prisoners

January 5, 2023/in News

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Myanmar junta sentences teacher to death on murder, terror charges

January 5, 2023/in News

Nearly 100 people have been handed the death penalty for opposing the regime that seized power nearly two years ago

A junta-controlled court sentenced a primary school teacher to death last Friday for his alleged role in the killing of a suspected military informant in Ayeyarwady Region’s Myan Aung Township more than a year ago, according to sources.

Kaung Khant Kyaw, 25, was sentenced after being found guilty of murder and terrorism in connection with the shooting death of Win Myint Aung, also known as Gyat Gyi, in the Myan Aung village of Thapyay Kone in October 2021.

A participant in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against military rule, Kaung Khant Kyaw was arrested weeks after the killing and charged under Section 302(1)b of the Penal Code and Section 50e of the Counter-Terrorism Law.

An elected MP from Ayeyarwady Region condemned the sentence, calling it “absurd.”

“Handing death sentences to CDM teachers and students is just destroying the country’s future. It’s absurd that a group of power-hungry people is punishing innocent, educated youths,” said the lawmaker, who did not want to be named.

According to Kyaw Ye Lwin, a member of the Basic Education General Strike Committee’s secretarial team, Kaung Khant Kyaw was not permitted to meet with his family during his trial.

“Everyone’s extremely worried because they said no one would be allowed to see him again. The family is still trying their best to see him,” he said, adding that only one lawyer was allowed inside the court during sentencing.

He added that Kaung Khant Kyaw would likely be transferred from Hinthada Prison, where he was held during his trial, to Pathein Prison now that a sentence has been handed down.

The family is planning to appeal the sentence, he said.

Kaung Khant Kyaw is the first schoolteacher to be sentenced to death since the February 2021 coup. Nearly 200 others are currently in junta custody, according to Kyaw Ye Lwin, who described the sentence as a “threat” to others taking part in the CDM.

On Sunday, seven educational organisations released a statement condemning the military’s imposition of the death penalty on its opponents.

It also called for an end to the regime’s unlawful arrests and urged the international community to take action against the junta for its brutal suppression of dissent.

At least five other CDM education staff members, including a teacher named Swan Yee Htet who has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, were also arrested in Myan Aung.

According to data compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a total of 97 people have been sentenced to death by the military council as of December 30, 2022.

Myanmar’s junta pardons more than 7,000 prisoners

January 5, 2023/in News

The Independence Day amnesty includes a former National League for Democracy minister, authors and journalists.

UPDATED AT 4:44 p.m. ET on 01-04-2023

Myanmar’s military rulers ordered the release of 7,012 inmates, including some political prisoners, in an Independence Day amnesty Wednesday.

Detainees held in prisons and police stations across the country had their sentences reduced in accordance with Section 401 of the Penal Code, according to junta news releases received by RFA.

Wednesday marks the 75^th anniversary of the end of British colonial rule and the junta held grand ceremonies to commemorate the event in Yangon, Mandalay and the capital Naypyidaw.

Lawyers, who wished to remain anonymous, told RFA some political prisoners had already returned to their homes early Wednesday, while families of others were still waiting outside prisons.

Minister of Religious Affairs under the National League for Democracy-led government, Thura Aung Ko, was released from Yangon’s Insein Prison Tuesday night. He had been serving a 12-year sentence for alleged corruption. Police officers and soldiers took him to his home in Yangon, his daughter wrote on her Facebook page.

The National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in 2020 elections but the NLD-led government was overthrown in a February, 2021 coup. The junta has arrested many party members along with the country’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison, and President Win Myint who faces 12 years behind bars.

Neither Suu Kyi nor Win Myint were included in the amnesty.

Writer Than Myint Aung.jpg — Author Than Myint Aung shortly after her release from Insein Prison, Yangon on Jan. 4, 2023. Credit: RFA

Writers freed

Among those released from Yangon’s Insein prison were authors Than Myint Aung and Htin Lin Oo, a Yangon lawyer, who didn’t want to be named for safety reasons, told RFA.

Than Myint Aung is a well-known fiction writer who also worked for many charities in Myanmar. She had been serving a three-year sentence for alleged incitement. Htin Lin Oo was also sentenced to three years in prison for sedition.

Poet Myo Tay Zar Maung, who had been sentenced to two years for sedition, was freed from Yamethin Prison north of Naypyidaw Wednesday.

Journalists Kyaw Zeya, Ah Hla Lay Thu Zar, Lway M. Phoung, Pyae Phyo Aung, Sai Ko Ko Tun and Ye Tun Oo were also among those set to be freed as was Naing Ngan Lin, the social affairs minister for Yangon region under the NLD-led government.

Thu Zar, who was arrested by the junta in September 2021 and sentenced to two years, described her release as bittersweet.

“No other journalists have been released from Insein prison. Since many journalists are still in prison, I can’t be fully happy with my release,” she told RFA.

In spite of the Independence Day amnesty, and one on National Day last November, the junta continues to target opposition politicians and real or alleged pro-democracy activists. More than 16,800 have arrested since the coup, according to Thailand-based monitoring group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). Ahead of Wednesday’s amnesty, it said 13,375 political prisoners were still being held.

People protest junta rule in Tanintharyi region’s Dawei township, Jan. 4, 2023. Credit: RFA

Little to celebrate

Wednesday’s events to mark the diamond jubilee anniversary of Independence Day were substantial, and held under tight security. In Yangon, festive markets and fairs were put on in Shwedagon Pagoda, People’s Square and Maha Bandula Park in the city center.

But several residents of Myanmar’s largest city chose to boycott the festivities, telling RFA that national independence means little to a people living under military rule.

“Both last year and this one, I’ve been overwhelmed by the idea that our country has not yet truly gained independence,” said one Yangon resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal.

“I will regard and embrace a day as one of independence only when citizens can go about freely and enjoy full democracy in our country. But for now, I only have a very dim memory of the history of Independence Day that I learned in books. To me, it’s just another day.”

An official from the Dagon University Students’ Union told RFA that the heavy security presence at Wednesday’s anniversary events reflected Myanmar’s current state of insecurity and lack of freedom.

“It seems to me that there is no honor in [junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing] celebrating Independence Day in a festive manner after he robbed the country of its power in a coup,” the official said.

“No matter how many celebrations [the military leaders] organize, they know that they themselves are not free. The … many layers of security indicate that the people do not accept them.”

In his New Year’s Day speech, even Min Aung Hlaing admitted that although Myanmar would be celebrating its 75th year of independence on Wednesday, the country had not yet experienced “true independence.”

Family members greet a man released from prison as part of the junta’s general amnesty in Shan state’s city of Lashio, Jan. 4, 2023. Credit: RFA

Few changes expected in 2023

Political analyst Than Soe Naing noted that only the junta and its followers marked Independence Day with festivities, while the rest of the country’s inhabitants chose to mourn the lost of their right to self-determination.

“Only a few followers of the military rulers received titles awarded by the junta and portrayed today as an Independence Day celebration but, due to the military’s aggression throughout the country, the number of refugees from conflict in Myanmar has increased to 1.5 million,” he said.

“In other words, it is a time when the people of Myanmar have lost their right to enjoy independence and are facing all sorts of problems, and it is also a time when they are choosing to fight back.”

Anti-junta activists told RFA they have little hope that the rights violations they experienced during the last two years of military rule — including arrests, killings and the torching of residential homes — will change in 2023. The junta’s plan to hold a general election this year will do little to alter that expectation, they said, because it will be neither be free nor fair.

Ahead of Wednesday’s celebrations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that if the junta wants to see an independent Myanmar, it should hand power back to the country’s people.

“Today, Burma’s military regime stands in the way of democratic progress and the will of the people,” he said. “The military regime must end its violence, release those unjustly detained, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and recognize the desire of the people for a genuine and inclusive democracy in Burma.”

Translated by Myo Min Aung and Kyaw Min Htun. Written in English by Mike Firn and Joshua Lipes.

This story has been updated to include reactions to the junta’s general amnesty, expectations for Myanmar in 2023, and a statement by the U.S. Secretary of State.

RFA News

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ND Burma

ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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