The lawyer for the editor-in-chief and a writer for The Voice — both of whom were detained on Friday — is expressing outrage that his clients were made to attend a hearing with no representation due to the fact that he was not made aware of said hearing.
The Voice’s chief editor Kyaw Min Swe and writer Ko Ko Maung were detained under Section 66(d) for a satirical piece published in late March that criticized the army. However, as 7Day reports, the pair’s legal advisor, Khin Maung Myint, warned authorities that under the law, citizens cannot be detained for more than 24 hours without a warrant.
Mysteriously, the Bahan Township Court, which is usually closed on weekends, held a hearing the next day to remand the pair in custody. The duo is currently being interrogated at the Bahan Police Station, and will remain in custody until their next hearing on June 8. An official from the station told 7Day that they would be held there while they are being interrogated, after which they will be transferred to Insein Prison.
Khin Maung Myint told 7Day that such a decision was a blatant disrespect of the law, explaining: “Article 18 of the official court guidelines states that except in particularly time-sensitive cases, a court cannot hold a hearing on a [designated] day off. It especially makes clear that no hearings shall be held on Saturdays and Sundays. [My clients’] case is an ordinary one; it’s not a criminal case, nor is it a matter of national security.”
As such, Khin Maung Myint plans on filing a complaint with the district court to determine if the Bahan judge was in breach of the law.
The article in question, published on March 26, was written by ‘Brit Ko Ko Maung’ and takes aim at a military propaganda film. The Voice issued an official apology on May 14, pointing out that the army was never explicitly mentioned. Frontier reports that the News Media Council had been trying to mediate between the two parties, evidently to no avail.
Here is an English translation of the article translated by writer Kenneth Wong.
