Myanmar: Military files defamation lawsuit against independent newspaper
Event- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 17, 2017
- Event Description
On 17 May 2017, Myanmar's powerful military filed a defamation lawsuit against a local independent newspaper editor and its satire columnist over an article that allegedly insulted the armed forces in the latest attack on freedom of speech in the developing Southeast Asian country. Kyaw Min Swe, editor-in-chief of The Voice Daily, and the newspaper's satire columnist who writes under the pseudonym "British Ko Ko Maung," are being sued under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, which prohibits the use of the telecom network to defame people. Violators are subject to a jail sentence of up to three years and a fine. Government, military, and other officials are increasingly using the controversial law to file defamation suits against their critics under the current civilian administration of de facto national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which came to power in April 2016. The military filed the charges at Bahan Township Police Station in the commercial capital Yangon, citing alleged defamation over an article the newspaper published in late March. British Ko Ko Maung had written a piece entitled "Oath of the Nation of Bullets" that mocked "Union Oath," a military propaganda film that aired on the military-owned Myawaddy TV channel to coincide with Armed Forces Day on March 27. "I will face, according to law, whatever may come because I wrote what I believe," British Ko Ko Maung said. Lieutenant Colonel Tun Tun Oo of the Yangon regional command initially filed a complaint with the Myanmar Press Council charging that the piece offended the dignity of the armed forces, according to a report by the online news agency Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB). The council mediates disputes involving the press. The Voice Daily issued an apology on May 14. Kyaw Min Swe said he has not yet discussed the lawsuit with the board of editors, but will comment on it after meeting with the Myanmar Press Council, DVB reported. The military, which previously ruled Myanmar for 50 years and continues to wield enormous political and economic power, has filed similar complaints about articles critical of it in the past. It settled the cases out of court when the publications offered a formal apology or published a correction, DVB reported. Rights groups argue that the defamation provision of Myanmar's Telecommunications Law has been used to silence criticism of the government, military, and Buddhist leaders, and should be dropped. The new case brings the number of people who have been charged under Article 66(d) to 56 under the National League for Democracy (NLD) government. So far, seven of them have been sentenced to jail. During the previous military-backed government of former president Thein Sein, only seven people were charged under Article 66(d), and five of them received prison sentences. UPDATE: On 2 June 2017, Kyaw Min Swe and the newspaper's satire columnist who writes under the pseudonym "British Ko Ko Maung," were detained under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, which prohibits the use of the telecom network to defame people. UPDATE: On 8 June 2017, Myanmar court rejected bail for the HRDs. The next court hearing for the two men will be on June 16, and their lawyers will again seek release on bail. UPDATE: On 16 June 2017, the Bahan Township court has again rejected a bail application for The Voice chief editor U Kyaw Min Swe, while dropping charges against a staff writer from the paper accused of defaming the military. UPDATE: On 23 June 2017, the Bahan Township court rejected the fourth bail request of Kyaw Min Swe. UPDATE: On 30 June 2017, the court rejected the fifth bail request of Kyaw Min Swe. UPDATE: On 7 July 2017, the courtrejected the sixth bail request by Kyaw Min Swe. UPDATE: On 4 August 2017, a Myanmar court released on bail Kyaw Min Swe detained on defamation charges under a controversial statute, after having rejected nine previous bail requests since he was charged in June.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Censorship
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Internet freedom
- Media freedom
- Online
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 16.814316899999994
Longitude: 96.1580011
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 17 May 2017, Myanmar's powerful military filed a defamation lawsuit against Kyaw Min Swe, editor-in-chief of The Voice Daily, and the newspaper's satire columnist who writes under the pseudonym "British Ko Ko Maung" over an article that allegedly insulted the armed forces in the latest attack on freedom of speech in the developing Southeast Asian country.