Chan Aye Tharzan township court sentenced the now dissolved United Democratic Chair (UDP) chairman Kyaw Myint to 2 years in prison, which is the highest sentence for escaping prison, on November 12.

“He was sentenced two years in prison with labour. It is a separate sentence,” said Kyaw Myo Win, judge of Chan Aye Tharzan Township court.

He was also charged with immigration law at the same court. During the trial on October 23, he complained that his charges of jail escaping were not legal now as his jail sentence was at the time of the State Law and Order Restoration Council.

He said he was unfairly punished by the then government, claiming that he was not a fugitive that broke out from jail under the democratic government.

He denied that he tried to escape from jail by saying that the policeman walking outside together with him left him behind at a monastery. Then, two monks from the monastery transported him to Myawady in Kayin State by car. He went to Thailand via Myawady. 

He then went on to live in Norway, the United States and Canada.

He was allowed to return to Myanmar after he had been told by diplomatic officials that he was not blacklisted. He then went to Nay Pyi Taw Prisons Department to ask for related documents to solve the problem of his sentence. But they said the case was already dismissed as the intelligence organization that sued him had been abolished.

Five witnesses, including the warden of Mandalay’s Obo prison at the time of Kyaw Myint’s escape, Aye Chan, who was identified by his monastic name U Indra Bartha, appeared at the Chan Aye Tharzan Township Court to testify in the case on October 20. He was sentenced to nine years in prison in 1998 for violating the company's act and money laundering. After serving one year in prison, he managed to escape together with the help from a lance corporal on duty while he was receiving treatment at Mandalay General Hospital on January 19, 1999.