ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

by Zar Ni | Chiang Mai – There is no let up in the Burmese military junta handing out varying punitive sentences to anti-regime forces, with five monks sentenced to six and-a-half years in prison yesterday.

The monks from 'Ngwe Kyar Yan' monastery were arrested and detained after the saffron revolution.

The monks are U Nanda, U Wilar Thekka, U Agga Dhama, U Eithiriya and U Zarnayya. They were not produced in court outside but their case was heard inside the Insein prison. They were handed out prison terms by a special court.

"Earlier they were produced before the court in session outside the prison. But they were sentenced by a special court in session inside Insein prison yesterday. They are being held in Insein prison. There is no word yet of their being transferred to another prison," a lawyer who had access to the court hearing said.

They were handed prison terms on charges of unlawful assembly, joining unlawful associations, inducing crime against public tranquility and committing disaffection towards the state and government after being detained for nearly a year.

The monks were among 15 who were arrested on 24 November 2007 when the junta's armed forces raided the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery.

The security personnel surrounded Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery on 26 November 2007 around midnight and arrested and dragged away about 100 monks after assaulting them inside the monastery.

After nearly three months, out of 96 monks, including abbot U Yewata, only 51 monks were allowed to return to their monastery and the rest were ordered back to their home towns.

According to the 'Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners' (AAPP), the junta raided 52 monasteries in Rangoon, Mandalay and other towns elsewhere in Burma after the saffron revolution. The junta arrested and interrogated the monks. The regime arrested nearly 600 monks in the nationwide crackdown on the monk-led movement.

U Gambira, one of monk leaders in the saffron revolution, is still under detention and facing charges on 16 counts. The judgment against him will be pronounced soon, his lawyer said.