July 8, 2022
The military junta has unjustly sentenced former president of the Yangon University of Education Student Union, Ko Soe Thurya Kyaw, also known as poet Tharthu Yar, to eight years in prison under sections 52(a) and 505(a) on June 27, according to the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU). He received five years for section 52(a) and three years for section 505(a), and it is reported that additional charges are still pending in Yangon, despite this sentence being handed down in Mandalay’s Obo Prison.
Ko Soe Thurya Kyaw was arrested by the military on September 24, 2021. He was a former president of the Yangon University of Education Student Union and a leader in the anti-regime educational protests. He also served as a member of the executive committee of the Basic Education General Strike Committee (BEGSC), which led strikes among educators against the military’s rule, the ABFSU stated.
Similarly, Yadanabon University distance education student Kyi Pya, also known as Kyi Kyi Win, was sentenced by the junta to three years of hard labor. She had been unlawfully detained and is known to have participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) as a nurse, according to the Yadanabon University Student Union.
