Case History: Khin Khin Kyaw
On 28 September 2018, human rights lawyer Khin Khin Kyaw was sentenced to six months in prison by the Minhala Township Court in Bago region. She is currently being held in Tharrawaddy prison. Khin Khin Kyaw’s license to practice law has also been revoked.
On 14 October 2015, the trial against human rights lawyer Ms Khin Khin Kyaw began at the Thayawady Township Court. The WHRD is being persecuted for working to hold high-ranking police officials responsible for a violent crackdown on protesters in March 2015.
Khin Khin Kyaw is a human rights lawyer and a member of a legal team representing more than 50 detained student protesters who participated in protests in Letpadan to oppose Myanmar’s National Education Law.
On 28 September 2018, human rights lawyer Khin Khin Kyaw was sentenced to six months in prison by the Minhala Township Court in Bago region. The conviction and sentencing come after a lengthy trial that began in 2015. She is currently being held in Tharrawaddy prison. Khin Khin Kyaw’s license to practice law has also been revoked.
On 15 September 2015, the woman human rights defender was charged with “contempt of court” under Section 228 of the Penal Code, for “intentionally insulting or interrupting a public sitting in a judicial proceeding”. The charge is related to Khin Khin Kyaw’s legal representation of students who were violently detained during a peaceful protest in Letpadan, Bago region in March 2015.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Myanmar to quash the unjust conviction and revoke the prison sentence handed to Khin Khin Kyaw, as it believes that such are directly connected with her peaceful and legitimate defence of human rights. Front Line Defenders also urges the authorities to reinstate Khin Khin Kyaw’s license to practice law.
On 14 October 2015, the trial against human rights lawyer Ms Khin Khin Kyaw began at the Thayawady Township Court. The WHRD is being persecuted for working to hold high-ranking police officials responsible for a violent crackdown on protesters in March 2015.
On 14 October 2015, the trial against the human rights lawyer started at the Thayawady Township Court. On 15 September she was charged with disrupting the court proceeding under Section 228 of the Penal Code by Judge Chit Myat, who presides over the trial of those arrested for their involvement in the protests. Khin Khin Kyaw could face up to six months in prison, fines, and revocation of her legal license.
The charge is related to the proceeding at the Thayawaddy Township Court on 1 September 2015, when she was representing legal interests of the detained student protesters. Without providing any reasons, the Judge Chit Myat refused to accept a minor amendment to the legal motion Khin Khin Kyaw submitted in August 2015 on behalf of her detained clients. In response to the refusal, the individuals in the courtroom loudly accused the judge of being biased.
The legal motion, seeking to hold high-ranking police officials responsible for the violent crackdown against protesters in Letpadan in March 2015, was dismissed on 8 September by the same judge due to alleged lack of jurisdiction.
The trial against the detained students is still ongoing before the Thayawady Township court, while they have been jailed in Thayawady Prison since March 2015.
