The Sittwe Township Court on July 12 fined three Arakanese youths who were charged under Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law in connection with a protest they helped organise late last year against human rights abuses.

Defendant Min Bar Chay aka Ko Than Hla said the trio chose to pay a K20,000 fine instead of serving a 15-day prison sentence after they were found guilty in the case.

“The Sittwe Township Court sentenced us to a fine of K20,000 or 15 days in prison. We chose the fine,” he said.

Ko Min Bar Chay and co-defendants Ko Naing Naing Tun and Ma Khaing Mrat Thu are members of the Rakhine Youth New Generation Network.

They were also among a group of more than 30 young people who gathered in Sittwe to condemn human rights abuses in Arakan State on December 10, celebrated globally as International Human Rights Day.

The three men were apprehended by police near Sittwe Hotel while other placard-bearing demonstrators marched along the city’s Strand Road.

They were released on bail that evening, and on December 21, the Sittwe Township police chief filed a lawsuit against them under Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law.

Under Section 19, anyone who is convicted of assembling or demonstrating without applying for a permit in advance faces up to three months in prison, a fine not to exceed K30,000 ($22.50), or both.