Five leaders of the People Democracy Party (PDP) have been detained by
authorities in Kachin State since late October on charges of incitement and
defaming Kachin State Chief Minister La John Ngan Hsai, after he was accused of
corruption, PDP Secretary Aung Myint said on Thursday.
On Oct. 24, police arrested PDP
Chairman Dr. Than Htike Oo, Vice-Chairman Hein Htet Aung and Tanai Township
Organizer Nan Kham Htwe, and brought them to Tanai Township Court, Aung Myint
said. PDP Executive Committee member Win Naing and party organizer Kyemon were
detained in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina on the same day and brought to
Myitkyina Township Court.
“The [Kachin] State government
accused them of publishing defamatory articles in our [PDP] publication,” Aung
Myint said, adding that the prosecutor charged them for defamation under
Section 500 and incitement under Section 505(c) of the Burmese Penal Code which
can both carry a penalty of up to two years imprisonment.
Nan Kham Htwe has since been
released on bail for health reason, Aung Myint added.
He said the Kachin State
authorities had sought to prosecute PDP leaders after the party’s monthly
bulletin, published in Mandalay, accused the state’s Chief Minister La John
Ngan Hsai and his officials of demanding bribes from local motor transport and
motorboat businesses, and from organizers of the traditional Kachin festival of
Manaw.
Aung Myint said the PDP leaders
were being “arbitrarily detained” and that charges against them were baseless,
adding that the four leaders should be released on bail as soon as possible and
the case dropped.
The PDP recently wrote to
President Thein Sein, the speakers of the Upper and Lower Houses and Aung San
Suu Kyi, the chairperson of the parliamentary Rule of Law Committee, to request
that they investigate the case, he added.
The PDP is a small party that was
first registered at the Election Commission in August 2011 and contested last
April’s by-election for three seats in Mandalay Division, but failed to win any
of these.
La John Ngan Hsai is a member of
the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party and was elected as chief
minister after he won a seat for a Tanai Township constituency in the
widely-condemned 2010 elections.
Neither he nor his officials
could be reached by The Irrawaddy for comment at the time of publication.
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