Philip Blackwood is led into court on Tuesday, March 17, where he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. PHOTO/COCONUTS MEDIA
Philip Blackwood’s Burmese lawyer said on Wednesday that he doesn’t even know if the appeal in his client’s case will be accepted, and if it is, the odds are not good.
Mya Thway, the 73-year-old attorney who has been representing Blackwood and receiving death threats for it, told Coconuts Yangon that he has 15 days to appeal Tuesday’s conviction, which saw 32-year-old Blackwood and his two Burmese co-defendants, Tun Thurein, 40, and Htut Ko Ko Lwin, 26, sentenced to two and a half years in prison for offending religion and operating a bar illegally after 10pm.
The bulk of the sentence – two years – is tied to a Facebook post for a cheap drinks night at the trio’s VGastro pub in Yangon in December. The post included a psychedelic image of the Buddha wearing headphones, which drew immediate outrage from Buddhists before it was taken down.
Thway said Blackwood was “surprised” and “upset” after the verdict yesterday. He added that he was being treated well in prison and was healthy.
As for the appeal, “it will not be good for him. It will not work, I think.”
“This is their policy, this is a lawless country,” he said. “They will reject appeal. They won’t even take the appeal.”
However, he is going to try, and he urged New Zealand’s government to lobby on Blackwood’s behalf.
“The ambassador of New Zealand can write to the foreign office…Every ambassador in Burma they write to the foreign office for their citizens.”
New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Blackwood has admitted to posting the rendering and apologized profusely but has said that causing offense was not his aim, something his lawyer reiterated on Wednesday.
“No intention, not malicious…he put it just for the promotion for the bar,” he said.
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