All charges against a filmmaker on trial for Facebook posts critical of the Myanmar military must be dropped immediately and unconditionally, Amnesty International said.

Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi is a prominent filmmaker and founder of the Human Dignity Film Institute and the Human Rights, Human Dignity International Film Festival in Myanmar.

He was arrested on 12 April after a Myanmar military official accused him of defamation for a series of Facebook posts critical of the military-drafted 2008 Constitution and the military’s role in politics.

Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi is being detained in Yangon’s Insein prison, where he has been held for more than three months since his arrest. He has been denied bail, despite suffering liver cancer and undergoing a major operation earlier this year.

Filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi (C) arrives at the Insein township court ahead of his trial in Yangon, Myanmar, 23 May 2019. Photo: Nyein Chan Naing/EPA