Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on the Yangon authorities to drop the spurious charges still pending against three Eleven Media journalists who were freed on bail on October 26 after being held for two weeks, and who should never have been jailed in the first place.
The three journalists – Eleven Media group chief editor Kyaw Zaw Linn, editor-in-charge Nayi Min and chief reporter Phyo Wai Win– are still charged with “showing disrespect toward the Yangon regional government, the statement says.
The charges were prompted by an 8 October story about the Yangon regional government’s slapdash management of its budget, in particular, a loan that was contracted for the purchase of school buses that did not have the local assembly’s approval, it adds.
An official said that he would withdraw the case against the three journalists if they issued a public apology in the state media.
“This affair is reminiscent of the worst crackdowns on journalists under the military junta,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “We call for the immediate withdrawal of the charges against the Eleven Media staff, who just acted in the public interest. The credibility of Myanmar’s democratic transition, which has already been badly dented by press freedom violations, is now at stake.”
After noting the gravity of the violations of the freedom to inform since the start of the year, RSF issued an “incident report” three weeks ago about the threat to Myanmar’s position in the World Press Freedom Index, in which it is currently ranked 137th out of 180 countries.
