Karenni resistance court convicts Loikaw University rector, administrators of unlawful association

A court established by Karenni anti-junta organisations has fined and sentenced a rector and other university officials to prison terms in the Karenni (Kayah) State capital of Loikaw, the court’s most senior judge said on Wednesday. Aung Khin Myint, rector of Loikaw University, and four other members of the university’s staff were each handed a two-year prison sentence and fined 900,000 kyat (US $429) for unlawful association with Myanmar’s military. The Karenni Interim Executive Council (IEC)—a governing body formed in June of 2023—established the Karenni State Court in an area captured by Karenni anti-junta armed organisations in Loikaw, Karenni State’s administrative seat and largest city. The Karenni IEC is chaired by Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) leader Khu Oo Reh and has approved the Karenni State Interim Plan, a provisional constitution recognised by most of Karenni State’s anti-junta groups. The court heard charges against the university administrators brought by the Karenni State Police (KSP), an anti-junta force formed by defectors from the military-controlled home affairs ministry following the 2021 coup. The KSP charged the defendants under section Section 17 (1) of the Unlawful Associations Act, and the verdict was reached on February 25, according to Khu Poe Reh, chief justice of the Karenni State Court. “The prosecution presented their case under section 17(1), and the evidence presented based on the defendants’ confessions led to this verdict,” the chief justice said. The Myanmar military prosecuted journalists and civilians under the same law prior to the 2021 coup. Since the coup, courts established by resistance forces have continued to hear cases based on the law. According to Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act, a person who becomes a member of an illegal association, who participates in such an association’s meetings, or who funds or receives funds for such an association is subject to fines as well as a prison term of not less than two years and not more than three. Following the verdict and sentencing, the rector and five other Loikaw University administrators are in the custody of the resistance forces’ prison authorities. On November 11, 2023, the combined forces of Karenni resistance groups launched an offensive—dubbed Operation 1111—targeting the junta’s Regional Operations Command in Loikaw and other military outposts. Junta troops after surrendering their base at Loikaw University to resistance forces in November 2023 (Photo – KNDF) As part of the operation, Karenni forces raided the university campus in Loikaw, ultimately defeating and forcing the surrender of two army battalions that were stationed there. Afterwards, the resistance forces identified some 200 people to be detained, including university personnel who had opted out of joining the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and their family members, and removed them from the campus to an area under their control. On November 28, the Karenni IEC instructed 193 of the people they had taken into custody to sign a pledge against future participation in any military regime-controlled administrative apparatus and avowing solidarity with the citizens of Myanmar. Regarding the five university administrators sentenced to time in prison, Karenni IEC secretary Zue Padonmar said they had been working for the junta, which the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG) had designated as an illegal association. She added that they held significant roles in the junta-controlled university administration. "They are officials in charge of the Loikaw University administration, which is to say must be considered pillars supporting the terrorist army and collaborators with an organisation that has been declared illegal. That is why they were charged and prosecuted under Section 17(1),” she said. The military regime has cracked down on unlawful associations more frequently and severely than any other group in Myanmar, detaining and abusing thousands of their political opponents for suspected associations with anti-junta groups before prosecuting them under Myanmar’s Counterterrorism Law. Myanmar Now contacted the NUG’s ministers of education and human rights to inquire about the NUG’s stance on the punishment of the university rector and administrators but did not receive a response. Manny Maung, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, argued that punishing those who have merely refrained from participating in a movement such as the CDM weakens and undermines the democratic cause. People should have the right to oppose a given ideology peacefully and to abstain from activities they do not support, she said. "In this case, we do not see any other violation except that they did not participate in CDM activities,” Manny Maung said. “If people are pressured from all sides, there is no real freedom of speech or activity.” In similar incidents, a total of 140 Kalay University employees and their family members are currently in the custody of resistance forces in Kalay Township, Sagaing Region, and the rector and two department heads at Tanintharyi Region’s Dawei Technological University are currently detained and under investigation by a local resistance group.

Karenni resistance court convicts Loikaw University rector, administrators of unlawful association

The tribunal, set up by the Karenni Interim Executive Council in an area of Loikaw under resistance control, levied fines and handed down prison sentences for collaboration with the Myanmar junta

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