Sittwe District Court delays verdict for several Ponnagyun Twsp villagers accused of terrorism

By DMG 30 Jun 2022

DMG Newsroom
30 June 2022, Ponnagyun 

Five locals from Ponnagyun Township’s Kyaukseik village and its vicinity have been detained for more than two years, but a ruling in their case has yet to be delivered by the court. 

A verdict in the case of the five men — who were detained in April 2020 and charged on suspicion of having illegal ties to the Arakan Army (AA) — was postponed by the Sittwe District Court on June 30 because the judge was reportedly not ready to deliver it, said U Kyaw Nyunt Maung, a lawyer involved. 

“The court rescheduled the next hearing for July 6 and the judge was reportedly not ready to deliver a verdict during today’s hearing,” the lawyer explained. 

The five men are 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 in neighbouring Mrauk-U Township.  They have been charged under Sections 50(j) and 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law. 

The defendants’ families have maintained their innocence throughout the trial proceedings, and have run up against financial difficulties as the court has repeatedly delayed a verdict in the case. 

“I gave K10,000 to my son with the help of another person because I couldn’t go to Sittwe to attend the hearing in person due to financial difficulties,” said Daw Ni Ni Aye, the mother of defendant Ko Nyi Nyi Aung. “If I were to attend the court hearing, I’d need around K250,000. But I had K10,000 only.” 

The Sittwe District Court similarly postponed the case of two men from Ai Tin village in Ponnagyun Township who were arrested on suspicion of having links to the Arakan Army in March 2020 and have been detained for more than two years. A hearing on Thursday saw the judge likewise “not ready” to deliver a verdict in that case, according to a defence lawyer involved. 

The two men — identified as U Maung Saw Aye, 32, and his nephew Ko Nay Lin Htay, 25 — were arrested at the Kyauktan checkpoint on the outskirts of Sittwe on March 5, 2020, upon returning to their village in Ponnagyun Township by motorbike. 

Captain Aung Phyo Myint from the Myanmar military’s No. 907 Engineering Regiment filed a lawsuit against them on terrorism charges. 

Myanmar’s military regime pardoned more than 1,600 prisoners on April 17 to mark the Thingyan Buddhist New Year, but detainees facing trial for alleged AA links were not among those released, according to human rights monitors.