YANGON — A bus driver who was allegedly beaten and fired by two grandsons of former military dictator Ne Win has dropped a lawsuit against them after the two agreed to reinstate his driving license and drop reckless driving charges.
U Aung Myat appeared at the Hlaing Tharyar Township court on June 15 to drop the charges against the two brothers.
U Aung Myat previously worked as a driver for Omni Focus YBS Co., owned by Ne Win’s grandsons Kyaw Ne Win and Zwae Ne Win. He was allegedly beaten by the brothers after the bus he was driving was involved in a minor accident with another company vehicle driven by Ko Kyaw Min Tun on April 28.
Ko Kyaw Min Tu also alleged that he was beaten and unfairly dismissed. He was also charged by the two for reckless driving.
U Aung Myat filed a complaint with the police who charged the brothers with assault under Article 202 of the criminal code. The brothers also opened their own case against U Aung Myat for reckless driving.
“I agreed to drop the charge because they agreed to reinstate my driving license,” said U Aung Myat.
The Hlaing Tharyar Township judge in June revised the charges and charged the brothers for swearing and assault. The former carries three months’ imprisonment with labor and the latter, a maximum one-year imprisonment and/or a fine of one million kyats.
Article 279 for reckless driving prescribes a maximum two years’ imprisonment or a fine of 1,000 kyats or both.
Both drivers appeared for trial, but the two brothers have only sent their representatives to the court.
U Kyaw Ne Win met with U Maung Maung Han, a labor rights activist from Irrawaddy Region who is helping the two drivers, on June 5 and said that he would return the driving licenses and drop all charges if the two drivers would withdraw their charges as well.
U Kyaw Ne Win also said that he would give the drivers the compensation they had asked for, said U Maung Maung Han.
For unfair dismissal, U Kyaw Min Tun is entitled to 740,000 kyats compensation, while U Aung Myat, who had only been on the job for four months, is entitled to 590,000 kyats, said U Maung Maung Han.
Their former employer Omni Focus General Service Co Ltd had only given 400,000 kyats to U Aung Myat and 300,000 kyats to U Kyaw Min Tun.
U Aung Myat said he did not receive any money from the two brothers to drop the charges other than the compensation for unfair dismissal.
U Kyaw Ne Win declined to comment on the case when asked by The Irrawaddy.
The two brothers are likely to drop the charges against the drivers at the upcoming trial on Wednesday.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
