DVB reporter’s appeal rejected

Thursday, 29 April 2010 20:46 Phanida

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - A reporter for a non-profit media organisation lost her appeal in the Magway Division Court against a jail term of more than a quarter of a century handed down in Pakokku, her lawyer said yesterday.
Hla Hla Win, video reporter for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), based in Norway, was sentenced to 27 years in Myitkyina prison in Kachin State. Oral arguments of lawyers from both sides on her appeal against the decision handed down in a Pakokku court were heard on April 5 and the court rejected her appeal yesterday.

“The court said upheld the decision of the Pakokku court, thus rejecting the appeal,” Shwe Hla, Hla Hla Win’s lawyer said

Hla Hla Win was sentenced 20 years for violating the draconian Electronics Act and the Video Act, 505 (b) and seven years for violating the Import-Export Act, 5 (1) (for riding an unlicensed motorcycle).

Her lawyer said he would lodge an appeal with the Mandalay Division Supreme Court. “My client did not commit any illegal act. So, the decisions of the inferior courts are unfair,” he said. “After we have copied the judgments of the inferior courts, we will try to get the deserved legal right .We will point out that the inferior courts’ decisions were unlawful, and continue pursuing legal proceedings in this case.”