YANGON, Myanmar —
Myanmar’s junta on Wednesday jailed a Japanese journalist arrested while
filming an anti-coup protest for three more years for violating immigration
law, a diplomatic source told AFP.
اضافة اعلان
The sentence
came on the same day a closed junta court handed ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi
another six years in prison for corruption, according to a source with
knowledge of the case, taking the Nobel laureate’s total jail time to 26 years.
Toru Kubota, 26,
who was detained in July and jailed for seven years last week, was sentenced to
an additional “three years imprisonment”, a diplomatic source at Japan’s
embassy said, citing the journalist’s lawyer.
Myanmar’s junta
has clamped down on press freedoms, arresting reporters and photographers, as
well as revoking broadcasting licenses during its crackdown on dissent since
seizing power last year.
Kubota, who was
arrested near an anti-government rally in commercial hub Yangon along with two
Myanmar citizens, appeared in good health at the hearing on Wednesday, the source
said, citing his lawyer.
According to a
profile on FilmFreeway, Kubota has made documentaries on Myanmar’s Muslim
Rohingya minority and “refugees and ethnic issues in Myanmar”.
Kubota is the
fifth foreign journalist to be detained in Myanmar, after US citizens Nathan
Maung and Danny Fenster, Robert Bociaga of Poland, and Yuki Kitazumi of Japan —
all of whom were later freed and deported.
Before the
sentence was announced, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP that Kubota “would
not be deported at this moment”, without giving details.
Phil Robertson,
Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch, said Kubota was being used as a
“political pawn” by the junta.
“By imprisoning
Kubota, the junta is sending a chilling message to the foreign media to enter
at your own risk,” he said.
‘Sham trial’
Suu Kyi, 77, has been detained since the military toppled her
government in a coup in February last year, ending the Southeast Asian
country’s brief period of democracy.
She has since
been convicted on a clutch of charges, including violating the official secrets
act, electoral fraud and illegally possessing walkie-talkies.
In the latest
case,
Suu Kyi was “sentenced to three years imprisonment each for two
corruption cases” in which she had been accused of taking bribes from a
businessman, the source said.
These jail terms
will be served concurrently, the source added.
The businessman,
Maung Weik, appeared in a video televised by a military broadcaster last year
claiming he had given Suu Kyi $550,000 over several years.
Maung Weik — who
was convicted of drug trafficking in 2008 — also said he had donated money to
senior figures in Suu Kyi’s government for the good of his business.
Suu Kyi — who
denies all charges against her — appeared in good health and will appeal, the
source added.
She is currently
on trial for five other corruption charges. Each carries a maximum of 15 years
in prison.
A spokesperson
for Amnesty International slammed the latest trial as a sham that “cannot be
taken seriously”.
A junta
spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Journalists have
been barred from attending the court hearings and Suu Kyi’s lawyers banned from
speaking to the media.
In June, she was
transferred from house arrest to a prison in the capital Naypyidaw, where her
trials are being held in a courthouse inside the prison compound.
Myanmar has been
in turmoil since the military seized power, sparking widespread armed
resistance.
The junta has
responded with a crackdown that rights groups say includes razing villages,
mass extrajudicial killings, and airstrikes on civilians.
More than one
million people have been displaced since the coup, according to the
UN children’s agency.
According to a local
monitoring group, more than 2,300 people have been killed and over 15,000
arrested since the military seized power.
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