Student activist defiant on release
Student activist Phyu Hnin Htwe left a district court in Sagaing Region yesterday after a Chinese-owned mining company dropped two kidnapping-related charges against her, saying: "I should have been released earlier."
“I was arrested even though I was not guilty and have been on trial for about a month,” she added, before thanking those who had protested against the trial, including members of student unions and civic organisations.
The charges had been filed in September over an incident earlier this year in which two surveyors of Myanmar Wanboa Company, a unit of Beijing-based Wanboa Inc, were detained by villagers near the controversial Letpadaungtaung copper mine project.
Phyu Hnin Htwe was arrested in her hometown of Patheingyi in Mandalay Region on September 13, and charged with violating sections 364 and 368 of the Burma Penal Code: kidnapping with intent to murder, and illegally concealing an abducted person. She faced life in jail if found guilty of both charges.
The dropping of charges followed a protest two days earlier by the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, which marched from the Yinmabin District Court to the office of office of Myanmar Wanboa Company.
Ye Yint Kyaw, a spokesperson from the union’s central working committee, said Phyu Hnin Htwe’s release was likely the result of the protest, as it put pressure on authorities and could have ignited further protests while bringing more attention to the controversial mining project.
Thein Than Oo, a lawyer representing Phyu Hnin Htwe, said one likely reason the charges were dropped was to prevent relations between China and Myanmar from deteriorating.
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