Six Ponnagyun Township residents detained and charged with incitement under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code were brought to trial respectively at the Ponnagyun Township Court and a Sittwe Prison tribunal on Friday.
The court hearing of Ko Ba Hlaing, Ko Myo Thwin and Ko Myat Thura Tun, who are being detained at Sittwe Prison, was held via video conferencing. U Kyaw Min, U Win Maung Than and U Tun Hlaing appeared before the Ponnagyun Township Court.
A captain from Ponnagyun-based Battalion No. 550 filed the charges against them. The township General Administration Department has also charged them with disturbing government employees in performing their duties, as well as other offences, according to family members.
“The charges are trumped-up. My husband does not understand politics and has ties to neither organisation,” said Daw Aye Khaing, the wife of detainee Ko Ba Hlaing, referring to the Arakan Army (AA) and United League of Arakan (ULA).
The mother of Ko Myo Thwin also insisted that her son is innocent.
“I want authorities to release my son as early as possible. He is apolitical and unfairly charged. And his health is not very good,” she said.
A total of eight residents were detained between June 16-18 in Ponnagyun Township. The two other detainees — Min Aung Khaing, 17, and Naing Myo Tun, 18, from Pauktawpyin village — have not yet been brought to trial and their whereabouts are still unknown, according to family members.
“I still don’t know where my son and his friend are being held. I have not been able to contact them. They are neither at Sittwe police station nor prison,” said U Saw Mya, the father of Naing Myo Tun.
Last month, the Arakan Army abducted at least 14 junta soldiers and police officers in Arakan State, including some in Ponnagyun Township and the state capital Sittwe. The ethnic armed group said it had seized the security personnel due to the regime’s arrest of its members.
In response, the regime detained dozens of residents, subsequently releasing only a portion of them.
Civilian arrests became less common after the Arakan Army and Myanmar military agreed to an unofficial ceasefire in November 2020. In recent months, however, tensions between the two sides have been rising.
