"Additional sentences for Latpadaung activists", 20 Aug 2015

Five activists have been sentenced to four months each in prison by the Ahlone township court under Article-18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. The group had previously been sentenced to over four years in prison each, under various charges connected to a protest in front of the Chinese embassy in Rangoon in December last year. The group – Nay Myo Zin, Naw Ohn Hla, Tin Htut Paing, Ba Myint and Than Swe – were arrested after scuffling with police in front of the Chinese embassy, in a protest denouncing the death of Latpadaung villager Khin Win, who was fatally shot by security forces at the China-backed copper mining project in Sagaing Division’s Monywa. Following the arrest, various charges were pressed – including the Article-505(b) of the Code Penal for sedition and multiple counts of a charge under the protest law for staging rally without official permission, filed by different police stations in townships they marched past in the demonstration. In May this year, the activists were sentenced in total to four years and eight months in prison under five charges...[T]he Ahlone township court passed a verdict on the group for violation of the Article-18 in the township – four months each in prison; to be served concurrently with similar verdicts passed by courts in other townships. “We were sentenced to four months in prison. The court ruled that we were guilty of the charge, but decided the term should be served concurrently with previous sentences,” said Nay Myo Zin.