Man arrested for speaking to media about his past as a child soldier

Authorities arrested a man on Saturday for speaking to media about his former life as a child soldier in the Myanmar army.

The accused, 26-year-old Aung Ko Htwe, had recently given an interview with Radio Free Asia about his time in the army, which began when he was abducted by a sergeant at the age of 14. The sergeant sold him to another soldier, who then brought him to an army recruitment center in Mandalay region. In 2007, two years after his abduction, he and two other underage soldiers tried to escape a military camp and accidentally killed a man on a motorbike during their getaway. They were initially handed the death sentence, but the ruling was later reduced to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Aung Ko Htwe was released earlier this year. Last week, RFA published an interview with him in which he talked about his abduction and time in the army.

Days later, Lieutenant Colonel Myo Myint Aung filed a case against Aung Ko Htwe under Article 505(b) of the Penal Code, which prohibits statements that might cause public alarm. He was arrested on Friday and sent to Insein Prison, family members and police officials confirmed to Anadolu Agency.

Aung Ko Htwe’s sister Nay Zar Tun said: “I don’t know anything wrong for disclosing the life of a child soldier.”

“He felt bad about the time when he spent in the military. So he always wanted to tell his story to people and parents to make sure children didn’t end up like him,” she told AFP.

The central army and the myriad of ethnic rebel armies it is fighting had a long track record of using child soldiers, a scourge that saw tens of thousands of minors abducted and forced into military service over decades.

Following the secession of the former military junta in 2012, Myanmar entered a Joint Action Plan (JAP) with the UN Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting (CTFMR) on Grave Violations against Children and the Tatmadaw; since then, the army has released approximately 850 underage soldiers. Earlier this year, the Myanmar government signed the Paris Principles on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Group led by UNICEF.

But experts say children remain at risk as new underage recruits continue to trickle into the military and ethnic armed groups waging insurgencies against the state.

If convicted, Aung Ko Htwe faces a maximum sentence of two years and/or a monetary fine.

Additional reporting by AFP