High-profile presence: Ye Htut, talking to journalists in Yangon, Myanmar in this file photo. — AP
A former high-profile Myanmar army officer who had served as information minister and presidential spokesperson has been has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for sedition and incitement, a legal official said.
Ye Htut, a 64-year old retired lieutenant colonel, is the latest in a series of people arrested and jailed for writing Facebook posts allegedly spreading false or inflammatory news.
Once infrequently prosecuted, there has been a deluge of such legal actions since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
He was arrested in late October after a military officer from the Yangon Regional Military Command reportedly filed a charge against him, around the time when some senior military officers were purged on other charges, including corruption.
He was convicted on Wednesday.
Ye Htut had been the spokesperson from 2013 to 2016 for President Thein Sein in a military-backed government and also information minister from 2014 to 2016.
After leaving the government, in 2016 he became a political commentator and posted critical content on Facebook of Myanmar’s military rulers.
The army’s takeover triggered mass public protests that the military and police responded to with lethal force, triggering armed resistance and violence that has escalated into a civil war.
The official familiar with the court proceedings against Ye Htut said that he was sentenced by a court in Yangon’s Insein prison to seven years for sedition and three years for incitement.
Ye Htut did not have legal representation during his trial, the official said.
The discrepancy in the sedition charge and the lack of transparency in legal proceedings raise concerns about the state of freedom of expression and due process in Myanmar. — AP
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