Two Buthidaung Twsp administrators charged with unlawful association

By Admin 17 Jul 2023

DMG Newsroom
17 July 2023, Buthidaung

Two administrators from Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township were charged last week under Section 17 (1) and (92) of the Unlawful Associations Act for having alleged ties to the Arakan Army (AA).

Tet Min Chaung Village administrator U Kyaw Hla and Mee Kyaung Zay Village administrator Ameh Huseng are the pair facing trial.

“The next hearing will take place on July 25,” said a source close to the Buthidaung Township Court.

The court charged the two men on Friday for allegedly supporting and communicating with the Arakan Army.

They were detained on September 3, 2022, by the Myanmar military, and a captain from a Buthidaung Township-based military unit filed the complaint against them.

U Kyaw Hla is ailing after sustaining injuries during interrogation, according to his son, Ko Maung Kyaw Win. 

“My father has nothing to do with the AA. He is old, and we want authorities to release him,” he said.

U Kyaw Hla and Ameh Huseng are currently being held in Buthidaung Prison.

According to a DMG tally, at least 10 ward and village administrators and other local leaders were detained between July and November of last year while the AA was engaged in the latest round of hostilities with the Myanmar military. Among the detainees were three from Buthidaung Township.

Fellow administrators have expressed concern for their own wellbeing, fearful at the prospect of incarceration on similar grounds.

In February, AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha told a press conference that the Myanmar military had arrested 594 civilians during the latest period of fighting in Arakan State. Only 391 had been released and 203 others remained in detention, he told the press conference.