National League for Democracy (NLD) patron Win Htein requested that a Naypyitaw court release him from a detention center on bail on Friday, citing his deteriorating health. He awaits a trial for sedition charges brought against him by Myanmar’s ruling military council.
At 79 years old, Win Htein uses a wheelchair and is reliant on an oxygen supply to help him breathe. He suffers from hypertension, diabetes and heart and thyroid diseases, according to his lawyer, Min Min Soe.
He is charged with violating Section 124-A of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
“We requested that the court hold the trial with him out on bail because he needs constant medical care for those health issues,” lawyer Min Min Soe told Myanmar Now.
At Win Htein’s second hearing on Friday at the Dekkhina District court in Naypyitaw, deputy judge Soe Naing said the court would make a decision regarding the bail request in the next hearing, scheduled for March 19.
Lawyer Min Min Soe also said that officials at the Naypyitaw detention center have not allowed her to meet with her client or to obtain a copy of his medical records to submit to the court.
She said that the NLD’s legal team has also requested that the judge allow an open court for her client’s hearings.
The outspoken party stalwart Win Htein was arrested at his home in Yangon on the evening of February 4. He had recently returned from Naypyitaw, where he gave media interviews in which he said the coup was a result of Min Aung Hlaing’s “personal ambition.”
At his first hearing on February 19, Win Htein asked for a sentence to be handed down to him immediately, which was rejected by the judge.
A former army captain, Win Htein has been jailed twice for his resistance to previous military regimes, serving a total of nearly 20 years in prison before the political transition began in 2011.
In an interview with Myanmar Now before his arrest, Win Htein echoed a call made by Aung San Suu Kyi for public resistance to the coup, including “civil disobedience, non-violence and non-cooperation.”
Suu Kyi has been hit with four charges. She stands accused of violating the Natural Disaster Management Law for breaching regulations aimed at curbing Covid-19 during last year’s election; the Export and Import Law for illegally importing walkie-talkies; Section 505b of the Penal Code for inciting crimes against the state; and the Telecommunications Law for possessing restricted communication devices without licenses.
The first two charges against her were brought at her first hearing in February and the latter two were added on March 1 at her second hearing.
Suu Kyi is now facing a total of nine years imprisonment.
President Win Myint was also charged under the Natural Disaster Management Law for greeting a crowd during an NLD campaign rally in Naypyitaw, as well as under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for inciting crimes against the state.
Hundreds of thousands of people across the country have taken to the streets to protest against the new military regime and call for the release of civilian leaders.
