Arakan News Agency
Dozens of people and journalists demonstrated on Sunday in Myanmar to protest against the continued imprisonment of the authorities by Reuters journalists during their coverage of events in Myanmar.
Protesters carried pictures of journalists demanding their immediate release.
Journalists like Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo appeared before a court in Myanmar where they face charges of violating the law.
The trial of Reuters journalists in Myanmar is not the first. They have been subjected to several trial sessions over the past months. The last of these trials took place on January 23, when ABC News quoted the defense lawyer of journalists, Khin Maung Zaw, – The trial will last from three to four months, as the court is scheduled to hear 25 witnesses before it sentences journalists who face charges of up to 14 years’ imprisonment.
Authorities in Myanmar arrested journalists on December 12 for demanding secret papers from two policemen working in the state of Arakan, which has seen violence that has left more than 630,000 people from the Muslim minority of Rohingya fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh.
For its part, rights and media groups criticized Myanmar’s new civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, for continuing to use the laws of threatening and imprisoning journalists. These laws were widely used by the former military junta to silence critics and media.
