Years-long trial at standstill for two Paletwa residents charged with terrorism 

By Admin 20 Oct 2023

DMG Newsroom
20 October 2023, Paletwa, Chin State
 
Two residents in Paletwa Township, Chin State, who have been charged under Section 52(a), and Section 52(b) of the Counterterrorism Law on suspicion of having ties to the Arakan Army (AA), have seen their trial deadlocked for more than a year and a half, according to family members of the accused.
 
Only the two accused and an investigating police officer have yet to be examined, but since March 2022, the Mutupi District Court has suspended the case, saying “there is no judge.”
 
“We have been facing trial for three years and five months, but the judge hasn’t delivered a verdict yet. We want the judge to deliver a clear verdict about the case,” said Daw Yu Yu, the wife of one of the accused, U Aung Min Thein.
 
U Aung Min Thein, 42, from Tayonai Village, and Daw Buma Chay, a 24-year-old ethnic language teacher from Kyauktan Village, Paletwa Township, were arrested by the Myanmar military along with three others on March 21, 2020, on suspicion of having AA ties.
 
The military has since released the three others, but filed a lawsuit against the duo at the Matupi District Court.
 
“The fact that a case has not been investigated for more than three years is very damaging for the client and the family,”  said a human rights activist in Arakan State. “Either way, the judge has to deliver a verdict about the case. Detaining the accused without a court hearing because there is no judge is a violation of the law.”
 
He continued that because the military regime has removed the AA from its list of terrorist organisations, those arrested on suspicion of links to the group should no longer be prosecuted.
 
Political stakeholders in the region have also said that if the military regime is truly advocating for peace, it should release those arrested and prosecuted on suspicion of having connections with the AA.
 
Out of some 200 people who have been prosecuted in Arakan State for allegedly having ties to the AA since fighting began between the military and AA in December 2018, at least 28 remain behind bars and 172 have been released under amnesties or after serving their time, according to a DMG tally.