About 30 ABFSU members sentenced since coup, says student activist group

15 Feb 2023

DMG Newsroom
15 February 2023, Sittwe

The military regime sentenced about 30 members of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) to significant prison time, including at least one life sentence, during the two-year period since the coup in Myanmar, according to the student activist group.

As of February 14, there were a total of about 50 ABFSU member students who were arrested after the military seized power, some of whom were subsequently released.

An ABFSU central executive official told DMG that there are currently up to 30 ABFSU members who have been sentenced to prison.

“So far, around 50 ABFSU member students have been detained by the military regime. Of the detained students, some were released in the military regime’s granting of a mass amnesty. There are currently up to 30 ABFSU member students who have been sentenced to prison,” he said.

A military court sentenced Ko Hein Htet aka Ko Po Po, a student activist of the North Okkalapa Students Union, to life imprisonment on February 9. According to the ABFSU, he was charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law.

Ko Hein Htet is vice chairman of the North Okkalapa Students Union and a member of the ABFSU. He was arrested on November 30, 2022, during an anti-coup campaign in Yangon’s Mayangone Township.

“Detained ABFSU member students have been sentenced to anywhere from two years in prison to life imprisonment. One ABFSU member student faces life imprisonment. There are up to 11 ABFSU member students who sacrificed their lives during the struggle for democracy,” the ABFSU central executive official explained.

The ABFSU noted that since the coup, the junta has been committing crimes such as arresting, torturing and killing people extrajudicially, and burning down buildings in villages and towns.

Ko Oo Than Naing, information officer for the Arakan Students Union, said the student movement stood on the correct side of history — against dictatorship and together with the people.

“Students have been arbitrarily arrested in Arakan State and mainland Myanmar. The student unions stand on the right side, with the public. The students’ unions condemn the military regime’s arbitrary arrest of students under various pretenses and the brutal torture of them,” he said.