Yangon: junta of myanmar A Japanese filmmaker has been jailed for 10 years, more than two months after he was arrested during an anti-coup protest, a military spokesman said on Thursday.
The military has curtailed press freedom since a coup last year, arrested journalists and photographers as well as revoked broadcasting licenses, while the country plunged into chaos.
Toru Kubota, 26, was detained in July along with two Myanmarese nationals near an anti-government rally in the commercial center of Yangon.
He was sentenced on Wednesday to seven years in prison for violating a law that criminalises the spread of information harmful to the security and peace of the state, a spokesman for the Junta said in a statement.
It said he had also received a three-year sentence for promoting dissent against the military – a charge that has been widely used.
The statement of the junta said that the punishment would be given concurrently.
A diplomat from Japan’s embassy in Myanmar said Kubota is also facing immigration law violations, with the next hearing expected on October 12.
Japan’s foreign ministry said it was providing consular assistance and “will continue to appeal to Myanmar authorities for the early release of Mr. Kubota.”
The filmmakers arrived in Myanmar in July and were shooting a “documentary featuring a Myanmar man”, his friend. yoshitaka nitta Said at a news conference in Tokyo in August.
According to a profile on the FilmFreeway website, Kubota has previously made documentaries on myanmarThe Muslim Rohingya minority and “Refugees and ethnic issues in Myanmar”.
Japan is a top donor to Myanmar and has longstanding ties with the country’s military.
After the coup, Tokyo announced that it would halt all new aid, although it did not impose personal sanctions on military and police commanders.
Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch said Kubota’s gelding is a “slap in the face” for Tokyo.
“It is time for Japan to stop playing the game and move to support genuine international sanctions that will squeeze the junta’s revenue sources.”
In September, Japan’s defense ministry said it would halt a training program for members of Myanmar’s military from next year over the junta’s execution of four political prisoners.
The execution of the four by the junta in July, in the face of international calls for clemency, was Myanmar’s first use of the death penalty in decades and sparked international outrage.
Kubota is the fifth foreign journalist to be detained in Myanmar after US nationals Nathan Maung and Danny Fenster. Robert Bosciaga Poland and yuki kitazumi of Japan – all of whom were later freed and exiled.
Fenster, who was held while attempting to leave the country in May last year, faced a closed-door trial inside InSense on charges of illicit affair, provocation against the military and breaching visa rules.
He was sentenced to 11 years in prison before being pardoned and exiled.
As of March this year, 48 journalists are in custody across the country, according to the ASEAN reporting group.
More than 2,300 civilians have been killed in military crackdowns on dissent since the overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, according to a local watchdog group.
The junta says anti-coup fighters have been blamed for the deaths of some 3,900 civilians.
The military has curtailed press freedom since a coup last year, arrested journalists and photographers as well as revoked broadcasting licenses, while the country plunged into chaos.
Toru Kubota, 26, was detained in July along with two Myanmarese nationals near an anti-government rally in the commercial center of Yangon.
He was sentenced on Wednesday to seven years in prison for violating a law that criminalises the spread of information harmful to the security and peace of the state, a spokesman for the Junta said in a statement.
It said he had also received a three-year sentence for promoting dissent against the military – a charge that has been widely used.
The statement of the junta said that the punishment would be given concurrently.
A diplomat from Japan’s embassy in Myanmar said Kubota is also facing immigration law violations, with the next hearing expected on October 12.
Japan’s foreign ministry said it was providing consular assistance and “will continue to appeal to Myanmar authorities for the early release of Mr. Kubota.”
The filmmakers arrived in Myanmar in July and were shooting a “documentary featuring a Myanmar man”, his friend. yoshitaka nitta Said at a news conference in Tokyo in August.
According to a profile on the FilmFreeway website, Kubota has previously made documentaries on myanmarThe Muslim Rohingya minority and “Refugees and ethnic issues in Myanmar”.
Japan is a top donor to Myanmar and has longstanding ties with the country’s military.
After the coup, Tokyo announced that it would halt all new aid, although it did not impose personal sanctions on military and police commanders.
Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch said Kubota’s gelding is a “slap in the face” for Tokyo.
“It is time for Japan to stop playing the game and move to support genuine international sanctions that will squeeze the junta’s revenue sources.”
In September, Japan’s defense ministry said it would halt a training program for members of Myanmar’s military from next year over the junta’s execution of four political prisoners.
The execution of the four by the junta in July, in the face of international calls for clemency, was Myanmar’s first use of the death penalty in decades and sparked international outrage.
Kubota is the fifth foreign journalist to be detained in Myanmar after US nationals Nathan Maung and Danny Fenster. Robert Bosciaga Poland and yuki kitazumi of Japan – all of whom were later freed and exiled.
Fenster, who was held while attempting to leave the country in May last year, faced a closed-door trial inside InSense on charges of illicit affair, provocation against the military and breaching visa rules.
He was sentenced to 11 years in prison before being pardoned and exiled.
As of March this year, 48 journalists are in custody across the country, according to the ASEAN reporting group.
More than 2,300 civilians have been killed in military crackdowns on dissent since the overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, according to a local watchdog group.
The junta says anti-coup fighters have been blamed for the deaths of some 3,900 civilians.