Student protesters to reappear in court on April 23
Play
The fifth court appearance of student protesters and supporters who participated in the protest against the national education law will take place at the Letpadan Township court on April 23, according to lawyer Robert San Aung.
At the last court hearing, lawyers representing the students submitted arguments against the government’s application to hold the hearing at a different court.
Robert San Aung said: “The next court hearing will be on April 23. I think there will be no interrogation at the coming court appearance. The case file is still at the level of the district court. The district court will have to rule that the hearing will be in either Letpadan or Thayawaddy district. So I submitted my argument at the fourth court hearing.”
Students and supporters imprisoned at the Thayawaddy jail have been charged with sections 143, 145, 147, 332 and 505(B) of the penal code. Student leaders Kyaw Ko Ko, Ye Yint Kyaw and Myat Thu have been declared ‘fugitives’ by the court.
The police allowed the most of the detained students to meet with their parents and the media at the fourth court appearance. Some of the movement’s leaders were excluded.
The mother of one detained student said: “The arrested students still lose their rights. The police allow students to take off their handcuffs only in the prison vehicle and during court sessions. Mothers will feel sorry to see their children in handcuffs. My daughter is neither a thief nor an outlaw. She faces such unfair treatment while fighting for the people. But I take pride in my daughter.”
At the fourth court appearance, some people staged a protest by holding placards reading: ‘Release the arrested students and supporters at once.’
On April 20, student union members and participants from civil society organisations freed fishes at the Washing-off Blood Lake that lies north of the northern stairway to the Shwedagon Pagoda as a goodwill effort wishing for an immediate release of students and supporters who are detained at the Tharyawady prison after a violent police crackdown in Letpadan.
Their goodwill action released more than 1,000 fishes.
"We made this benevolence as we're wishing for an immediate release of students and supporters who are detained at the Tharyawady prison. The fishes we released share the same experience of detained students and people. The fishes are bred as a business to be eaten when they're grown up. And the students are also detained with a reason at the prison. It's also a Myanmar traditional custom to do for a new year," Kyaw Lwin from CSO Forum told The Daily Eleven on April 20.
Many protestors were arrested last month in Letpadan after the violent police crackdown. A total of 70 students and supporters are charged under several penal codes for the protest and students Kyaw Ko Ko, Ye Yint Kyaw and Myat Thu are declared as fugitives as they're still at large.
