MANDALAY (UCAN): A military court in Shwebo Township, Sagaing Region, central Myanmar, a rebel-held area under the control of the government-in-exile, known as the National Unity Government [NUG], sentenced nine members of a local resistance group to 20 years imprisonment for murdering Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win in February [Sunday Examiner, February 23].
According to the NUG’s Ministry of Defense, the convicts have been sentenced to hard labour under Section 302[2] of the Penal Code.
“All eight of those who committed the murder are not being held in respective prisons in our controlled areas,” U Maung Maung Swe, the ministry’s deputy secretary, said.
The 44-year-old Father Ye of the Archdiocese of Mandalay was hacked to death on February 14 by members of a resistance group while he was at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Kangyitaw Village in Shwebo. The attackers reportedly him after accusing him of being an informant of the military junta.
According to the Shwebo unit of the People’s Defense Force [PDF], the NUG’s armed wing, the 10 assailants belonged to an armed group based in Ta Ohn village. The group is not officially recognised as a force under the PDF structure.
The NUG official said the PDF pursued and arrested the alleged murderers after the incident became public. The investigation and trial took five months. The court issued its final judgment on July 10, sentencing eight out of the ten individuals. The verdict was announced on July 17.
At the court’s recommendation, two underage defendants were released and returned them to their parents.
The killing sparked widespread condemnation and calls for justice, including from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar.
The conflict has displaced more than three million people, mostly women and children, according to the United Nations.
