Doctor Says Facebook Comedian Died From Blows to Head

By The Irrawaddy 19 December 2018

YANGON — A forensic doctor testified in the Aung Yell Htwe murder trial on Tuesday that the popular Facebook comedian died from severe head trauma, according to local media.

Taking questions from the  prosecution, the doctor, from Yangon General Hospital, told the Yangon Eastern District Court that the trauma included fracturing and hemorrhaging of the meninges resulting from blows with a hard and round object.

He was the last of the prosecution’s 22 witnesses.

The court will decide whether to charge the three murder suspects at its next hearing.

Aung Yell Htwe, 24, was severely beaten by a group of men at a New Year’s Eve party on Dec. 31 and died in hospital hours later after being operated on.

The Eastern District Court had dropped the case after questioning only 14 witnesses and before hearing from either the doctor or police investigator or reviewing the CCTV records. Yangon’s attorney general at the time, U Han Htoo, who approved the dismissal, said there was no solid evidence against the suspects.

U Han Htoo has since been dismissed and is on trial with five other court officials for allegedly taking bribes from a relative of one of the three suspects to drop the case.

Following a public outcry and pressure from the President’s Office, the Eastern District Court resumed the trial in October.