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Myanmar court frees scribes on bail in incitement case

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YANGON: A Myanmar judge on Friday freed on bail three journalists from the country’s largest private newspaper detained on incitement charges after publishing an article that raised questions over government spending.


Eleven Media’s chief reporter, Phyo Wai Win, and two editors, Kyaw Zaw Lin and Nayi Min, were arrested on October 10 following a complaint by the regional government in the commercial capital of Yangon.


Their detention, in Insein prison on the outskirts of the city, marked the latest blow to press freedom in the country, where dozens of journalists have been prosecuted in recent months.


“As a reporter, I wrote my articles based on true information,” said Phyo Wai Win, as he walked free from the crowded courtroom in central Yangon’s Tamwe township on Friday. The next hearing has been scheduled for November 9.


Explaining her decision to grant bail, judge Tin War War Thein told the court the journalists did not pose a flight risk.


“The punishment for the section is not a life sentence but two years maximum, and the accused are working at a journal based in Tamwe township, so they have no reason to run away,” she said.


The trio are facing charges under Section 505 (b) of the country’s colonial-era penal code, which prohibits publishing information that may “cause fear or alarm”, that could cause someone to commit an offence, or disrupt “public tranquility”. The charges carry a maximum penalty of two years in prison.


Official denounces UN calls for trial at ICC: Meanwhile, a local official in Myanmar on Friday denounced a request by UN observers to refer the country’s military leaders to the International Criminal Court over allegations of genocide.


“Right now, there are accusations with one-sided narratives and one-sided views. Some say there was genocide and massacres and other problems like this, but you have to show the evidence,” Maungdaw township administrator Myint Khaing told dpa.


Maungdaw is located in the northern Rakhine State, where a crackdown on the predominantly Muslim Rohingya minority has caused an exodus from the majority-Buddhist country to neighbouring Bangladesh and prompted international outcry.


 — Reuters/dpa


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