Myanmar Junta Court Sentences Ousted Rakhine State Chief Minister to Prison

By The Irrawaddy 8 October 2021

Ousted Rakhine State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu was sentenced to two years in prison with labor for sedition on Friday.

The Sittwe Township Court in the Rakhine capital Sittwe delivered its verdict via videoconferencing, said U Nyi Pu’s lawyer U Myo Myat Hein of the Thazin Legal Institute.

“I have yet to meet my client to ask him if wants to appeal against the ruling. If he wants to appeal, I will do so,” U Myo Myat Hein told The Irrawaddy.

U Nyi Pu was charged with sedition under the Penal Code soon after the junta’s February 1 coup, along with other senior NLD leaders, following the release of a February 13 NLD statement condemning the military takeover.

In September, two NLD leaders in Rakhine’s Taungup Township – ousted Rakhine State Municipal Affairs Minister U Min Aung and U Thant Zin Phyo – were sentenced to two years and two months in prison under the Natural Disaster Management Law and Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law for organizing anti-coup protests.

The military regime has also fielded corruption charges against five former ministers of the Rakhine State government, including U Nyi Pu and U Min Aung. Both men will face those charges while already in jail.

U Nyi Pu was detained in Gwa Township on February 1. He was released the following day and placed under house arrest. He was detained again nine days later and subsequently charged with sedition.

His daughter, Daw Moe San Suu Kyi, who is the head of the NLD’s central youth committee, was detained by junta troops in Yangon in May.

Three other NLD members, including the vice-chairman of the Rakhine NLD U Soe Lay, were also arrested in Yangon in May.

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