MYITKYINA (UCAN): Military and local authorities in Banmaw, Kachin state, Myanmar, released Father Columbano Labang Lar Di on May 17 after the intervention of Bishop Raymond Sumlut Gam.
“He is back in safety with a normal situation and there are no signs of any ill-treatment,” Bishop Gam said.
Father Lar Di, from the Diocese of Banmaw in Kachin state, Myanmar, was detained by security forces when he was travelling from Banmaw to Myitkyina on May 13.
Father Lar Di was arrested in Momauk township where the military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) have been engaged in intense fighting since late April, with the military deploying fighter planes and heavy artillery.
Soldiers checked his identity card and mobile phone and then detained him to ask more questions, according Church officials reported.
Father Lar Di’s release came after Bishop Gam submitted a letter to military officials with a detailed explanation of the priest’s pastoral trip.
The bishop said the priest was treated well during his four day detention and was asked for details of documents on Bible courses in the Kachin language and photos of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and Church activities found on his mobile phone.
The priest was an assistant parish priest in Laiza, the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), so he had some photos with KIA soldiers from when he was engaged in social development activities.
He is a youth director of the Diocese of Banmaw and an assistant parish priest.
Catholics in Kachin state and elsewhere in Myanmar spoke out about the arrest on social media.
In April, the military raided churches in Kachin state and at least five Catholic churches in the Diocese of Pathein in the Irrawaddy Delta.
Fighting has displaced over 5,000 people and the Church has provided humanitarian aid to IDPs who have taken refuge in churches and monasteries.
More than 100,000 people remain at IDP camps in Kachin and Shan states .
Kachin state, is home to about 116,000 Catholics.
