Officials from the Sintgaing central police station charged a detained ex-journalist with incitement on Wednesday for allegedly violating Section 505a of the penal code.
Thirty-five-year-old Win Naing Oo, who formerly worked as a chief correspondent for Channel Mandalay, was arrested along with his wife Thu Thu from a mango farm in Mandalay’s Sintgaing Township on August 31, according to a family friend. Thu Thu was reportedly released on Thursday evening.
Win Naing Oo stopped working in journalism after Myanmar’s February 1 military coup.
“He hasn’t done any journalism work during this time. I don’t know why he was arrested,” the friend told Myanmar Now.
Myanmar Now called the Sintgaing police station for further information on the case. The officer on duty said that Win Naing Oo was being held there and confirmed that he had been charged under Section 505a.
A Sintgaing local said that the couple had been living at the mango farm where they were arrested, but that they may not have been the junta’s initial target.
“The police were there to arrest their guest. They were arrested along with the guest,” said the local, who did not elaborate on the guest’s identity.
Win Naing Oo was previously charged with defamation in May 2019 after he was accused of violating Section 66d of Myanmar’s Telecommunications Law for broadcasting a news story on Channel Mandalay regarding military confiscation of farmland near Pyin Oo Lwin.
More than 100 journalists have been arrested since the coup, and many of them charged with violating 505a. Few have been released. Many have been sentenced in closed court hearings, with convictions for violating the statute carrying a prison term of up to three years.
At least 6,572 people have been arrested by the junta since the coup, according to a statement released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners on Thursday.
