Myanmar Court Adds 3 Months to Kachin Youth’s Sentence Over Protest

A young man in Myanmar’s northern Kachin state on Friday got three months added to a 15-day sentence for a public protest after he handed the sentencing judge a broken scale to underscore his distrust of the justice system.

Paul Lu and a young woman named Seng Nupan were sentenced to 15 days prison on Sept. 2 at Myitkyina township court in Kachin for staging a public demonstration about the plight of ethnic Kachin internally displaced by fighting in the resource rich state.

After the verdict was handed down, Lu gave a broken scale to the township judge to show that he had no faith in the judicial system.

Township judge Than Tun filed assaulting public servant charges against Lu and a second local judge, Tin Nwe Win sentenced him to three more months in jail.

Reported by Elizabeth Jangma for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Paul Eckert.