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Two NLD leaders sent to jail by Burmese authorities
Burma's western Arakan State, Sittwe (Akyab) Township National League for Democracy (NLD) chairman San Shwe Tun and organising committee member Aung Pan Tha, were each sentenced to three years in jail by a local court within last week.
March 7 2006, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma's western Arakan State, Sittwe (Akyab) Township National League for Democracy (NLD) chairman San Shwe Tun and organising committee member Aung Pan Tha, were each sentenced to three years in jail by a local court within last week.
The two active NLD leaders were arrested on 20 July and tried at Sittwe court under Act 24-1, on the charge of trading illegal foreign currencies.
"In fact, what the lawyers from outside are saying is – if they (the defendants) are to be punished, they should get 3 months or 6 months. Not more than that," a close family friend of the two told DVB. "Now that they are given three years, people don't know how they were given the punishment."
A local resident told DVB that the two leaders were approached by 'unknown' currency dealers but the they refused to buy any money from them. They were arrested, nevertheless. When the authorities searched their homes not a single note of foreign currency was found.
Observers believe that San Shwe Tun and Aung Pan Tha were arrested and imprisoned with trumped up charges because of their vital and active roles in the NLD.