Narinjara News, February 4, 2023

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

That was the eighth time that the plaintiff failed to showup in the courtroom, causing extra suffering to the accused, their familymembers said.

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

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

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

Both were remanded to Kyaukphyu Township Court under Article 17(1) on November13th. Since then, the plaintiff has not come to the courtroom at all, and thetrial 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 youthdevelopment training school where he was working as a cook. U Thein Tan wasarrested that day at around 9:00 PM from his home in Kyaukphyu by a handful ofMilitary Council troops.

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