A Kachin youth activist has been jailed for three months because he gave a judge a pair of broken scales.
Judge Than Tun had just convicted Pau Lu for holding an anti-war street performance when the activist handed him the symbolic item to signal his disapproval with the decision on Monday.
As a result he was sentenced Friday under a law that forbids insulting or interrupting public servants.
Pau Lu led the street performance in Myitkyina in June to raise awareness about the plight of people displaced by civil war in Kachin state.
He was charged along with another activist, Seng Nu Pan, under the Peaceful Assembly Law and given the option of spending 15 days in prison or paying a fine. Both activists chose prison.
The three-month sentence came after a brief hearing that Pau Lu’s lawyer, Ma Hka, said violated his client’s rights.
Ma Kha said his client was denied the right to legal advice and did not receive an explanation for the charges prior to the hearing.
“Pau Lu told the judge that he doesn’t understand this charge, and that he wants to [respond to whether he’s guilty] only after seeing his lawyer,” Ma Hka said. “But the judge didn’t allow him to so he eventually pled guilty.”
He added that he was unable to talk to his client at both the prison and the court, with police ignoring his request for privacy.
The June performance was of a commemoration to make the eighth anniversary of the breakdown of a 17-year ceasefire between the Tatmdaw and the Kachin Independence Army.
About 50 Kachin activists who have been displaced by the fighting organised a protest near the court against Pau Lu’s conviction on Thursday and Friday and plan to hold another on Monday.
