A regime court in Kachin State has sentenced the prominent Kachin Christian leader Reverend Hkalam Samson to six years in prison for unlawful association, incitement, and counterterrorism charges, his lawyer said.
The verdict was given on Friday at a special court inside the state’s Myitkyina Prison, where the religious leader has been detained since his arrest last year.
“He was sentenced to two years for unlawful association, one for incitement, and three on the counterterrorism charge,” his lawyer told The Irrawaddy.
The Kachin State Baptist leader was arrested in December by the regime for defaming the military in his sermons.
He was initially detained and charged with unlawful association in January, before being indicted for incitement. On February 14, the junta filed a further charge under the counterterrorism law, accusing Dr. Samson of meeting with a member of the opposition National Unity Government (NUG).
His lawyer said on Friday that Dr. Samson was in good health.
“We will submit an appeal later this month,” she said.
Dr. Hkalam Samson is also president of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly, a group of Kachin State religious and political leaders who help foster communication between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the local community. The KIO’s armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army, has been fighting the regime since the 2021 coup while also training and arming resistance People’s Defense Forces.
In February this year, the United States condemned the Myanmar military regime’s arrest and detention of Dr. Samson on politically motivated charges under counterterrorism and other laws.
Following his arrest in December, civil society organizations in Kachin State issued a joint statement on December 27 calling for the immediate release of the reverend on humanitarian grounds and for the sake of peace.
In 2019, the Myanmar military’s Northern Command attempted to take legal action against Dr. Samson for telling then United States president Donald Trump about the military’s oppression of ethnic minorities in Myanmar. The case was dropped on the orders of military chief and current junta boss Min Aung Hlaing.
