Defence witnesses testify in case of five Kyaukseik villagers accused of terrorism

By DMG 09 Feb 2022

DMG Newsroom
9 February 2022, Ponnagyun 

Four defence witnesses were examined during a hearing on February 9 in the terrorism trial of five local residents of Kyaukseik village and its vicinity in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township. 

The five villagers were charged under Sections 50(j) and 52(a) of Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law on January 12, after being arrested on suspicion of having ties to the Arakan Army. 

Four of 13 defence witnesses were examined at the Sittwe District Court on Wednesday, lawyer U Hla Aung Thein told DMG. 

“The next court hearing is scheduled for February 17 to examine the remaining defence witnesses,” U Hla Aung Thein said. 

Ko Nyi Nyi Aung, Ko Aung Myo Lin, and Ko Maung Chay, all 24 years old and from Kyaukseik village, Ko Min Soe, 38, from Ponnagyun town, and Ko Kyaw Win Hein, 22, from Zeebingyi village, have been charged by Captain Tint Naing Tun from the military’s Ponnagyun-based Battalion 550. 

They were arrested in April 2020, and have been on trial for nearly two years. The following month, a video of the five villagers being beaten during interrogation by Myanmar military soldiers on board a boat during their detention was shared widely on social media. 

U Maung Nu Shwe, the father of Ko Nyi Nyi Aung, said: “I have to try in various ways to get money for travel expenses to the court because jobs are scarce at the moment. They are not guilty. So, I want them to be released immediately. That’s why I’d like to ask, when will they be released?” 

Since the coup in February 2021, Myanmar’s military regime has released some people who were arrested on suspicion of AA ties, as well as some AA members, after it removed the ethnic armed group from its list of declared terrorist groups in March. However, about 110 people who have been detained and accused of AA affiliation have yet to be released.