The Arakan State High Court on Thursday reduced by six months the prison terms of four students who were sentenced to a total of 2.5 years behind bars over an unlawful protest in October 2020, according to the defendants’ lawyer.

On September 16, the Sittwe Township Court sentenced the four students to two years in prison under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code and an additional six months under Section 29 of the Natural Disaster Management Law.

The Sittwe District Court dismissed an appeal from the students one week later and the case was subsequently appealed to the Arakan State High Court.

“The High Court subtracted six months from the imprisonment of two years for the case charged under Section 505(b). For the case charged under Section 29 of the Natural Disaster Management Law, he ordered six months’ imprisonment [be maintained]. The High Court ordered that the two prison sentences run concurrently.”

With time served and given the concurrent sentences, the student could be released as soon as March 2022, according to U Kyaw Nyunt Maung.  

“The students were sentenced on September 16, and their imprisonment will be calculated from the day the verdict was handed down. So, their imprisonment was reduced,” U Kyaw Nyunt Maung explained.

The four students — Ko Kyaw Naing Htay, Ko Than Naing, Ko Mrat Soe Win and Ko Kaung Tun — were convicted over their participation in an anti-war demonstration organised by the Arakan Students’ Union on October 19, 2020.