Family calls for release of Kyaukphyu teen on trial for more than one year

By Admin 16 Oct 2023

DMG Newsroom
16 October 2023, Kyaukphyu
 
Family members are demanding the release of Maung Wai Yan Lin, a 17-year-old boy from Laikkhamaw Village, part of Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township, who has been charged with incitement under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code.
 
Maung Wai Yan Lin and a friend were arrested by junta soldiers in Kyaukphyu’s Ceditaung Ward in July 2022.
 
Maung Wai Yan Lin’s friend was released later, but Lieutenant Ye Thet Zaw from a Kyaukphyu-based military regiment filed a lawsuit against Maung Wai Yan Lin under Section 505(a) over photos found in his mobile phone. Maung Wai Yan Lin has been facing trial for more than a year.
 
Family members say Maung Wai Yan Lin was only 16 years old when he was arrested and had not committed any political crimes, and so should be released as soon as possible in accordance with the rights of the child.
 
“I thought my son would be released in a junta amnesty as he was a minor when he was arrested. There were more than 30 court hearings and I don’t know when the judge will deliver a verdict,” said Daw Phyu Phyu Than, the mother of Maung Wai Yan Lin.
 
“I thought that I would novitiate him [Maung Wai Yan Lin] in the summer if he had not been arrested,” said U Nyunt Win, the father of Maung Wai Yan Lin. “When he was arrested, my intentions were thwarted. I am in poor health and want him released as soon as possible.”
 
Sixty-one Arakan State residents charged under Sections (1) and (2) of the Unlawful Associations Act and behind bars for their alleged ties to the Arakan Army (AA) were released in a junta amnesty on August 2. Ten people from Kyaukphyu Prison were among the 61 released, but Maung Wai Yan Lin was not one of them.
 
Lawyers argue that the case should be dismissed under the Child Rights Law unless the child committed a serious crimes such as rape, murder or robbery.
 
“According to the Child Rights Law, the child must be placed in a center or school designated by the court to have parental custody or to face the case. Now, it can be said that children who are not yet of legal age are losing their legal rights,” said a female lawyer in Arakan State.
 
According to the existing law in Myanmar, those who have not reached the age of 18 are considered children, and according to the Child Rights Law’s Section 83(e), “under no circumstances should a child be placed in police custody or in prison.” Section 84(f) of the Child Rights Law also states that child cases must be heard promptly.
 
Myanmar signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, and enacted the Child Rights Law on July 23, 2019.