Family demands access to ousted Arakan State chief minister facing lengthy imprisonment

By DMG 07 Feb 2022

DMG Newsroom
7 February 2022, Sittwe 

Family members are demanding access to ousted Arakan State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu, who has been sentenced to several years in prison under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code and the Anti-Corruption Law, and still faces additional charges. 

“I am not sure that we will be allowed to meet with him,” Ma Kyi Kyi Oo, a daughter of the deposed chief minister, told DMG. “I am worried about my father’s health because he is very old.” 

U Nyi Pu was arrested along with many other leaders of the democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government when the military seized power in a coup on February 1, 2021. The Tatmadaw regime released him after two days and placed him under house arrest, but again took him away less than two weeks later, after he criticised the coup on social media. 

U Nyi Pu was subsequently sentenced to two years in prison with hard labour under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, which covers incitement, and a total of nine years’ imprisonment on three counts of corruption. 

The ousted chief minister, along with former Arakan State Municipal Affairs Minister U Min Aung, also faces charges under Section 130(a) of the Penal Code. U Min Aung has also been charged under Section 109 of the Penal Code, an abetment provision. 

U Min Aung was arraigned at a special court in Sittwe Prison on Sunday in connection with charges filed under electoral law, with the court examining U Thurein Htut, deputy director of the Arakan State election subcommission, who is acting as plaintiff in the case. 

“The judge questioned the plaintiff and the law officer recorded and examined the plaintiff’s statements at a special court in Sittwe Prison today,” U Win Aung, a higher grade pleader involved in the case, said on February 6. 

Charged under Myanmar’s Anti-Corruption Law, five former Arakan State ministers including U Nyi Pu were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on January 19. 

The court sentenced the ex-chief minister, former economic minister U Kyaw Aye Thein, and former Minister for Electricity and Transport U Aung Kyaw Zan to nine years in prison with hard labour. 

In addition, former Minister for Municipal Affairs U Min Aung was sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labour, and former Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Mining U Kyaw Lwin received three years in prison with hard labour.