Robert San Aung (second from left), the lawyer representing detained students, at Letpadan Township Court on April 23, 2015. PHOTO/COCONUTS MEDIA
The lawyer for student activists being detained in Tharyawaddy prison is demanding that his clients receive better treatment inside, noting in particular the lack of mosquito nets.
“The jail should give them full medication…should give them a good bed, mosquito nets…and good health care,” Robert San Aung, a human rights lawyer, said on Thursday outside the latest hearing at the Letpadan Township Court.
Nets are widely used in Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries as a way of lowering the risk of contracting mosquito-borne illnesses such as malaria and dengue. Contact information for prison officials at the Tharyawaddy facility was not available.
Dozens of students are awaiting trial on a raft of charges after they were arrested during protests against an education law in March. The case is being heard in Letpadan Township, about 90 miles north of Yangon. Students were trucked there in police vans from Tharyawaddy prison on Thursday, and supporters and family members showed up to protest.
According to the Irrawaddy, the court transferred the cases to the same township as the prison. The next hearing is scheduled for April 30.
