A former lawmaker for Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD) was sentenced to 26-years plus hard labor by a junta-appointed court on Monday.
Wai Lin Aung, 30, was an MP for Myaungmya township in Myanmar’s southeastern Ayeyarwady region. He was reelected in the 2020 election, serving until the Feb., 2021 coup.
More than 200 police and troops captured him on Dec. 15, 2021, along with a group of anti-junta activists, after they fled to Kayin State’s Myawaddy township on the Thai border. Wai Lin Aung was charged with anti-terrorism and treason and held for the next 11 months.
A source close to the court, who declined to be named for safety reasons, told RFA he could have been sentenced to almost twice as long in prison.
“Charges 52 (a), 50 (a) and 50(j) [anti-terrorism] are 26 years, and 20 years for Section 122 [treason], but the judge ordered them to be served together, so the total will be 26 years instead of 46 years. But it will be 26 years in prison with hard labor,” he said.
Three more NLD lawmakers from Ayeyarwady region each received 20-year prison sentences last week. Than Htut Aung, Thein Tun and Aung Aung Oo were convicted on charges of treason and discrediting the state on Nov. 24. They were sentenced along with eight political activists by Pathei Prison Court in Ayeyarwady region, a source close to the prisoners - who also wished to remain anonymous - told RFA.
The junta has punished several NLD lawmakers with even longer sentences.
Former lawmaker Win Myint Hlaing, 52, was sentenced to a total of 173 years for incitement and terrorism. Former Kayin state chief minister Nang Khin Htwe Myint, 67, was sentenced to 80 years, later commuted to 40 years, for election fraud, corruption and state defamation. Former cabinet member Than Naing, 65, was sentenced to a total of 90 years for corruption and state defamation.
Deposed State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, has been charged with 19 counts since her arrest shortly after the coup. She has been sentenced to a total of 26 years in prison for 14 of the charges.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.