Irrawaddy/AFP-Oct 5
Myanmar’s junta has jailed a Japanese filmmaker for 10 years for encouraging dissent against the military and violating an electronic communications law, a diplomatic source told AFP on Thursday. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the generals ousted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in February last year, sparking an uprising and military crackdown that have left thousands dead. Toru Kubota was sentenced by the court in Yangon’s Insein Prison on Wednesday, a diplomat at Japan’s embassy in Myanmar said, adding that the filmmaker’s trial for violating immigration law was “still continuing”. Kubota, 26, was detained near an anti-junta rally in Yangon in July along with two Myanmar citizens. He was initially charged under a law that criminalizes encouraging dissent against the military, and with breaching immigration charges. The dissent charge carries a maximum three-year jail term and has been widely used in the crackdown on opposition to the coup. The next hearing for the immigration charge would take place next Wednesday, the source added. A junta spokesman did not respond to requests for comment. According to a profile on FilmFreeway, Kubota has previously made documentaries on Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority and “refugees and ethnic issues in Myanmar”. Tokyo is a top donor to Myanmar and has long-standing relations with the country’s military. In September Japan’s Defense Ministry said it will halt a training program for members of Myanmar’s military from next year over the junta’s executions of pro-democracy activists. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-junta-jails-japanese-filmmaker-for-10-years-diplomatic-source.html
