Maungdaw man charged with incitement over alleged links to National Unity Government and affiliated CRPH

04 Feb 2023

DMG Newsroom
4 February 2023, Maungdaw

A resident of Lay Mile Village in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township has been charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code on suspicion of having ties to the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) and National Unity Government (NUG), the junta-controlled Myanmar Alinn daily reported on February 3.

Ko Phyo Maung, the man detained, has been using the “Maungdaw Thar Chay Tawthar Chay” Facebook account to spread propaganda with the aim of disrupting national stability, the military council claimed. Section 505(a) of the Penal Code covers incitement, and has been frequently used to imprison opponents of Myanmar’s military regime.

U Shwe Maung, the administrator of Lay Mile Village, said he did not know about the military regime’s criminal filing against anyone named Ko Phyo Maung.

“There is no Phyo Maung in the village. No one came to the village to arrest him [Phyo Maung]. No instruction was given to me. No one in the 12 villages of the Lay Mile village-tract knows Phyo Maung,” the village administrator told DMG.

Other Lay Mile villagers also said they did not know anyone in the village by the name of Phyo Maung.

“No one has ever heard the name Phyo Maung,” said a resident of Lay Mile Village who did not want to be named. “I didn’t find this Facebook account reported by the junta-controlled newspaper. I see this as an injustice.”

A source from the Maungdaw police force told DMG that there were no orders communicated to local police to arrest an individual by the name of Phyo Maung.

If a person makes, shares, or assists in disseminating propaganda that will disturb the public, he or she will be charged under Section 52(a) of the Counter Terrorism Law, Section 124(a) of the Penal Code, Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and/or Section 33(a) of the Telecommunications Law, the regime has said.

Ko Kyaw Zan Wai aka Ko Yin, a resident of Mrauk-U, was reportedly arrested on suspicion of having ties to the CRPH and NUG, and was subsequently charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code, the military council said on September 6.