The media in Myanmar has enjoyed more freedoms since the relaxation of censorship in 2012. PHOTO/COCONUTS MEDIA
Two journalists from the Myanmar Post were jailed on Wednesday after publishing a story about military representatives in parliament.
Than Htike Thu and Hsan Moe Tun were sentenced to two months in Mawlamyine prison, in Mon State, on charges of defamation resulting from an article published last year, according to the Myanmar Journalists Network (MJN).
“This is a harsh sentence,” said Myint Kyaw, General Secretary of the MJN, who added that the normal punishment for defamation in cases of civilians was fines. “The judiciary is influenced by the military and has to give harsh punishment,” he told Coconuts Yangon.
Thaw Naing, the newspaper’s editor-in-charge, told Reuters that a military representative claimed to have been misquoted in an article that discussed the division of seats in parliament between civilians and military.
