Junta releases three Taungup Twsp men facing terrorism charges

By DMG 16 Oct 2021

DMG Newsroom
16 October 2021, Taungup

Three out of nine residents of Lamu, Kamar and Sarpyin villages in Arakan State’s Taungup Township, who had been facing terrorism charges, were reportedly released on Friday evening.

The three men were released from Thandwe Prison after the charges against them were dropped by the Myanmar junta.

U San Chit Aung and Hla Than Maung from Lamu village and Ko Aung Lwin Soe from Kamar village were the three men allowed to walk free on October 15.

They were detained at Thandwe Prison for more than a year, and family members suffered various hardships while they were held behind bars, said U San Chit Aung.

“We were arrested for more than a year, which caused a lot of economic hardship for the family. We have experienced things like hell in prison,” he told DMG.

The three Taungup men were among those released by the military regime after it dropped charges against 114 people arrested on suspicion of having illegal ties to ethnic armed groups, including both NCA signatories and non-signatories, to mark the sixth anniversary of the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) on October 15.

Among the cases closed, there are 63 individuals allegedly tied to the Arakan Army (AA); 23 similarly linked to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA); 12 involving the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA); 11 from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA); and five from the Shan State Progressive Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), in addition to others.

The Myanmar military took nine residents from their homes in Lamu, Kamar and Sarpyin villages in Taungup Township on June 2, 2020, and filed a lawsuit against them under the Counter-Terrorism Law.

The three men have demanded that the six others currently detained at various prisons in Arakan State be released as soon as possible.

There are more than 100 people who have been arrested on suspicion of illegal ties to the AA, are facing charges and remain detained, according to civil society organisations tracking the issue.