Myanmar jails local journalist to release Japanese journalist Press release News

Min Nyo, who works for the Burmese Democratic Voice (DVB) in the My Nanmar Bago region, was arrested on March 3 and sentenced to three years in prison.

A Myanmar journalist who reported on anti-military government protests has been jailed for three years for a push, his news organization said, while authorities have announced the release of a Japanese journalist who has been arrested twice.

Min Nyo, who worked for the Burmese Democratic Voice (DVB) in the Bago region of Myanmar, was arrested on March 3 and found guilty by a military tribunal in one of the first trials against media workers in the February 1 military coup.

“DVB is urging the military authority to release Min Nyo immediately, as well as other journalists arrested or convicted around Myanmar,” he said on Thursday.

He was beaten by police and denied visits by his family.

Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, also denounced the sentence, saying: “The world cannot continue to sit quietly while the junta’s repression machine imprisons the truth and reveals all that it endangers.”

State TV MRTV reported on the nightly news that another journalist, Yuki Kitazumi, accused of breaking the law under the same law as Min Nyo, but would be released in recognition of Myanmar’s close relationship with Japan, said journalist Yuki Kitazumi.

Kitazumi, who runs a Yangon media company, was arrested on April 19 for the second time since the coup and was the first foreign journalist implicated.

Japan was a major source of investment and technical and development support for Myanmar’s semi-civilian government in 2011 in the 10 years of democracy and reform following the last era of the last military mandate.

Risk to life and liberty

Myanmar is in the throes of a coup d’état that has sparked public outrage when Aung San Suu Kyi’s ousted government ousted people.

Nearly 4,900 people have been arrested by many journalists, according to the Defender of the Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP).

DVB is among several news outlets that have been stripped of their licenses by the military, which has restricted access and used lethal force to wipe out strikes and protests across the country. According to AAPP data, at least 785 people have been killed by security forces.

Three DVB journalists have been arrested in northern Thailand this week for fleeing Myanmar for illegal entry. Human rights groups have called on Thailand not to deport her.

Emerlynne Gil, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director, said Myanmar’s generals have effectively criminalized journalism.

“They risk their lives and their freedom to shed light on the abuses of the army. The military authorities are ruthless, silencing those who want to expose their crimes to suppress dissent, ”Gil said in a statement.

Resistance to the military has intensified in recent weeks, with resurgence of enemies between the army and several ethnic minority armies, fierce attacks on government-appointed administrators by the military, and ambushes by police and soldiers calling themselves People’s Defense Forces.

MRTV reported on Thursday that a war law had been enacted due to unrest in northwest China’s Mindut. Resistance groups there say there have been fierce fighting between armed civilians and military government troops.

Meanwhile, protests continue across the country on Friday, despite protesters carrying motorbikes on the streets of Mogaung state in Kachin and dozens of protesters in Mandalay facing violent military parades.

Students also held candle strikes on Thursday night in Mingalado, north of Yangon, the country’s largest city and economic hub.