(SEAPA/IFEX) – On 9 March 2007, a Burmese court dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by a democracy activist against 123 editors and publishers from 30 Rangoon-based newspapers, reports Mizzima.com, a SEAPA partner based in New Delhi, India. Judge Daw Khin San Myint of the Sanchaung Court was reported to have initially said the case, filed […]
(SEAPA/IFEX) – On 9 March 2007, a Burmese court dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by a democracy activist against 123 editors and publishers from 30 Rangoon-based newspapers, reports Mizzima.com, a SEAPA partner based in New Delhi, India.
Judge Daw Khin San Myint of the Sanchaung Court was reported to have initially said the case, filed by Naw Ohn Hla, needed further investigation. He postponed a hearing thrice before finally dismissing the case.
Naw, a former member of the National League for Democracy and resident of Hmawby township, filed charges in January after the weeklies concerned published an article by someone with the pseudonym “Yan Yan”, which linked Naw to a deceased pimp who lived in her area. She tried to seek redress in a written appeal to authorities, including junta head Senior General Than Shwe, but failed.
Naw’s case manifests the new approach to propaganda undertaken by the military junta since the end of 2004. Instead of relying solely on state-owned media – whose information people disregard and dismiss as propaganda – the junta has been coercing private press to publish articles criticising “internal and external destructive elements” in the hopes that the stories will be more believable coming from non-state media.
According to Mizzima.com, the lawsuit by Naw – unexpected in a country under a military stranglehold – has stopped harsh personal attacks in local weeklies against well-known democracy activists, although pro-junta commentaries continue to appear.
Naw has not abandoned her effort and is reportedly bringing her case to the district court.
