Overview
- Mandalay courts sentenced eight activists, including campaigner Htet Myat Aung, to 37 years each and a ninth to 27 years for taking part in a December flash protest calling for an election boycott, activists said.
- Judges convicted the demonstrators under the July 2025 electoral law and the counterterrorism law, with the electoral law banning speech or organising against the vote and allowing penalties up to the death sentence.
- The protesters were arrested in early December after a downtown Mandalay demonstration that urged rejection of mandatory conscription and the release of political prisoners detained since the 2021 military takeover.
- Activist spokespeople said the defendants will not appeal because they expect the verdicts to stand, the military-backed government has not publicly commented, and critics say the prosecutions reflect a politicized judiciary.
- Human rights groups report tens of thousands arrested since the 2021 coup and more than 14,000 held in detention, and rights advocates warn these long sentences are intended to deter further protests and tighten military control.