Junta plaintiff causes extra suffering to two Kyaukphyu residents charged under Article 17(1) by failing to attend trials 8 times

Narinjara News, February 4, 2023

Two residents from Min Tet Taung village in Kyaukphyu Township, Rakhine State, charged with Article 17(1) of Unlawful Association arrived at Kyaukphyu Township Court around 2:00PM on January 31st for court hearing, but the case was not tried because the Military Council plaintiff did not attend the hearing.

That was the eighth time that the plaintiff failed to show up in the courtroom, causing extra suffering to the accused, their family members said.

“This time the plaintiff did not come again as usual. He has been absent 8 times. He has never been in the courtroom since the beginning of the trial. Even the travel expenses to come to the trial are already too high for us. We want to know why the plaintiff did not come. Some others have been acquitted. We want to know what problems our people have and why they have not yet been freed”, a family member of an accused told Narinjara.

Since the plaintiff did not arrive, the court announced that the trial date would be adjourned to February 7th.

The two people facing trial are Min Tet Taung villagers, U Thein Tan (47) and U Tin Aung (50).

Both were remanded to Kyaukphyu Township Court under Article 17(1) on November 13th. Since then, the plaintiff has not come to the courtroom at all, and the trial has been adjourned repeatedly, and now there have been 8 times.

U Tin Aung was detained around 3:00 PM on November 6th at a border youth development training school where he was working as a cook. U Thein Tan was arrested that day at around 9:00 PM from his home in Kyaukphyu by a handful of Military Council troops.

In Kyaukphyu, there are about 30 locals arrested by the Military Council, including government employees, social activists, and ordinary civilians. Those detained have been charged under various sections such as 17(1), 505(A)(B).