More protesters arrested and sentenced

Myint Aye and Myo Thu Htut were sentenced last week to four months in prison after they confessed to taking part in the unauthorised protest against the reconstruction of a student union building in Pyay, Bago Division. The sentence was read after the first court hearing.

Myo Win, a police officer of the No-1 Police Station in Pyay charged advocate Myint Aye and Myo Thu Htut with failure to obtain a legal permit in advance to stage the protest. 

“I asked the judge if he sentenced us to prison term lawfully or through the order of the superiors. I think it is the order of the superiors. This is because it’s not a serious charge. According to rule of law, the judge should have imposed a fine on us, not a prison term,’’ Myint Aye said.

According to Aye Thandar, a defence lawyer, she had never seen the final decision of the judge in the first court hearing who has been handling the cases under Section 18 since 2012.

 “We are working for the trust and interests of the people. For this we are sentenced to four months each in prison. We are proud of our noble act. We feel happy going to prison. The next thing is that we provided assistance to the students who were released after the crackdown on the students in Letpadan. Therefore, the authorities had to find fault with us so they filed a lawsuit against us and we were imprisoned,” Myo Thu Htut said.

Bahan Township Court in Yangon on April 1 also sentenced Naw Ohn Hla and Than Swe to four months in prison for the unauthorised protest against the violent crackdown on villagers who opposed the Letpadaungtaung copper-mine project. The four-month prison terms include the detention period to date. 

The outlook for others under trial for violation of the peaceful assembly law is not bright.

Six activists including Nay Myo Zin attended their 12th court hearing at Dagon Township court in Yangon last week. They were arrested for staging a protest on December 29 against the killing of Daw Khin Win in Letpadaung crackdown in front of the Chinese Embassy.

At the court, each of them was asked whether they all participated in the protest and got a prior permission for the protest. All the activists unanimously replied that they participated in the protest and they staged an unauthorised protest as the authority did not give the permission even if we submit the protest application. And the authority urged them to protest only at a designated place.

The activists said that under the 2008 Constitution, every citizen has the right to peaceful assembly and demonstration. So the charge against them under section 18 is wrong. 

On December 30, Nay Myo Zin, Naw Ohn Hla, Sein Htwe, Tin Htut Paing, Lay Lay (a) San San Win and Than Swe were arrested and charged under sections 294, 353, 152, 147, 149, 505 (b) and 18 of the Penal Code. 

At the March 10 court hearing, the court added more charges against them with sections 505 (b), 353 147 and 18 of the Penal Code. The next court hearing is scheduled for April 7.

Not all are yielding to control. 

Despite being banned from preaching by the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, controversial Buddhist monk Shwenyawah Sayadaw insisted Wednesday he will continue to deliver sermons.

The State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, a government-appointed body of high-ranking monks that oversees Buddhist clergy in Myanmar, banned him on March 25 in a written statement. The committee explained that the monk, also known as U Pinnyasiha, had been giving sermons that were unrelated to Buddhism.

''If there is anyone who wants to hear my sermon, I will continue preaching,'' Shwenyawah Sayadaw said. 

"In my sermons, there were no abusive words. Why didn't the committee take action against those who use abusive words? I’m just preaching without fear to show the weaknesses of the government. Now the situation is to do whatever the ruling government favours."

He has frequently been prohibited from giving sermons.