Five civilians sentenced to three years in prison on terrorism charges

Narinjara News, 7 July 2022

Five villagers, whose video footages became public with signs of torture by the junta soldiers on a naval ship after their arrest, were sentenced to three years in prison each by the Sittwe district court under section 52 (a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Attorney Kyaw Nyunt Maung, who has been assisting in the case, informed that it was  ordered on Wednesday.  They have been imprisoned in connection with the Arakan Army.

The punished individuals are identified as  Nyi Nyi Aung (24 years old),  Myo Hlaing Oo (24), Maung Chay (24), Min Soe (38) and Kyaw Win Hein (22), all  hailing fron Kyauk Seik village under Ponna Kyunt township, 16 miles north of the State capital Sittwe.

The soldiers arrested 38 villagers from Kyauk Sit village on 19 April 2020. Out of them  33 villagers were released by the military authority after  interrogation.  However, these five villagers were  not released and kept them under the custody.

During detention, some junta solders tortured the villagers on a navy ship. A  video footage about the incident went viral in social media (facebook).

Various Rakhine social organizations and human rights groups condemned the atrocities and the junta authority later took action against the responsible soldiers.

But the authority charged the villagers accusing their links with AA members.

According to the family sources, they were charged under section 50 (j) and  article 52 (a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act  by captain Tint Naing Tun of the military council.

After more than two years of hearings the Sittwe district court judge on 6 July ordered on their imprisonment.

However, many judicial experts opined that it was not appropriate to imprison them under the clause of terrorism, as the AA was already abolished from list of terror groups by the military junta.