A Myanmar junta court sentenced former lower house deputy speaker U Tun Tun Hein, also known as U Tun Aung, to four years in jail with labor for denouncing the coup in February.
Sources close to his legal team told The Irrawaddy that a court inside Lashio Prison in Shan State found him guilty of sedition under Article 505(a) and (b) of the Penal Code on Wednesday. They said the legal team would appeal.
U Tun Tun Hein, a central executive committee member of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD), was initially put under house arrest in Naypyitaw during the military coup on Feb. 1.
The junta released him on Feb. 7 and he was rearrested on Feb. 10 and incarcerated in Lashio Prison.
He was charged over NLD statements on Feb. 8 and 10 which denounced coup and violence against citizens and urged party members across the country to support the civil disobedience movement against the regime.
U Tun Tun Hein is one of the few politicians to win a seat for the NLD at four different elections: in 1990, a 2012 by-election, 2015 and 2020.
He was also jailed under the former military regime.
The junta has arrested senior NLD figures since the coup and annulled the 2020 election results that brought another landslide victory for the NLD. The regime has brought numerous charges against them and is handing down harsh sentences.
Detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint were sentenced on Dec. 6 to four years each on charges of sedition and breaches of COVID-19 regulations. Their sentences were immediately cut to two years by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.
According to the NLD, the regime has arrested 573 party members and, of them, 432 were still in detention on Dec. 1.
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