Arakan News Agency
A Myanmar court sentenced a Russian citizen to a month’s imprisonment for insulting religion after wearing her sandal at the Pagoda temple in the Bagan tourist area.
Police in Pagan told the German Press Agency on Thursday that a two-day prison sentence was issued against the woman, whose name was not revealed yet.
The woman was put in prison and fined 500,000 kyats (about $ 369), the local 7day news website reported on Thursday.
Local people consider wearing shoes in Buddhist temples in Myanmar to be very offensive to their feelings, and it is not unusual for tourists to commit acts contrary to Myanmar’s strict religious norms.
A Dutch citizen was jailed for several months last year after a loudspeaker incident in a Buddhist temple. A year later, a New Zealand citizen was sentenced to more than two years in jail for publishing a portrait of the Buddha – Wearing headphones – on the Internet, to promote a bar run by a foreign man in Yangon.
