A Japanese journalist has been charged with breaching the country’s immigration law and encouraging dissent against the military, the junta said.
Toru Kubota, who was detained while covering a protest in Yangon last week “has been charged under section 505 (a) and under immigration law 13-1”, the junta said in a statement.
The 505(a) – a law that criminalises encouraging dissent against the military and carries a maximum three-year jail term – has been widely used by the military in its crackdown on dissent.
Breaching immigration law 13-1 carries a maximum of two years’ imprisonment.
Film-maker Kubota, 26, was detained last Saturday near an anti-government rally in Yangon along with two Myanmar citizens.
He is the fifth foreign journalist detained in Myanmar after US citizens Nathan Maung and Danny Fenster and freelancers Robert Bociaga of Poland and Yuki Kitazumi of Japan, who were all eventually freed and deported.
As of March this year, at least 48 journalists have been detained in custody across the country, according to monitoring group Reporting Asean. — AFP
