{"id":8169,"date":"2026-07-29T23:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T23:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/29\/myanmar-court-sentences-activists-to-37-years-over-election-protest\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T23:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T23:38:15","slug":"myanmar-court-sentences-activists-to-37-years-over-election-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/29\/myanmar-court-sentences-activists-to-37-years-over-election-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Myanmar court sentences activists to 37 years over election protest"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Nine activists face prison terms of up to 37 years for protesting the military-backed December elections.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Myanmar courts have sentenced nine activists to up to 37 years in prison for participating in a protest that urged the public to boycott last December\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n<p>Eight protesters against the military government, including prominent activist Htet Myat Aung, were sentenced to 37 years on Tuesday by two courts in Mandalay, an activist group said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/4\/3\/myanmars-coup-leader-elected-president-by-pro-military-parliament\">Myanmar\u2019s coup leader elected president by pro-military parliament<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/27\/whats-happening-in-myanmars-civil-war-as-military-holds-elections\">What\u2019s happening in Myanmar\u2019s civil war as military stages elections?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/30\/asean-does-not-recognise-myanmars-elections-as-of-now-philippine-fm\">ASEAN does not recognise Myanmar\u2019s elections \u2018as of now\u2019: Philippine FM<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The sentences were imposed following the demonstrators\u2019 convictions under the electoral law and counterterrorism law, according to May Hnin, a spokesperson for the Anti-Junta Forces Coordination Committee-Mandalay.<\/p>\n<p>A ninth activist was sentenced to 27 years after being convicted under the counterterrorism law, she added.<\/p>\n<p>The activists were arrested on December 4, a day after they staged a flash protest in downtown Mandalay, the country\u2019s second-largest city.<\/p>\n<p>The demonstrators were urging the public to boycott the elections set for between December 25, 2025, and January 25, 2026, and to reject mandatory conscription.<\/p>\n<p>They also called for the release of political prisoners detained after the military seized power from the elected government of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/4\/30\/myanmars-former-leader-aung-san-suu-kyi-moved-from-prison-to-house-arrest\">Aung San Suu Kyi<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>May Hnin said she believed the military imprisoned the activists for peacefully protesting to instill fear among the public and secure its hold on power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese sentences are proof that a government that came to power through a sham election can never establish a federal democratic system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The activists will not appeal the verdicts because they do not believe the sentences will be overturned, May Hnin said.<\/p>\n<p>The military-backed government has not publicly commented on the sentences.<\/p>\n<p>In July 2025, Myanmar <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/7\/30\/myanmar-military-government-sets-long-prison-terms-for-election-protests\">adopted a law<\/a> that bans \u201cany speech, organising, inciting, protesting or distributing leaflets in order to destroy a part of the electoral process\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>It imposes punishments that range all the way up to the death penalty.<\/p>\n<p>More than 200 people were charged under the new law before the December election, which saw the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party win a majority.<\/p>\n<p>Opponents and independent observers said the election, which did not include major opposition parties, was neither free nor fair.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nine activists face prison terms of up to 37 years for protesting the military-backed December elections. Myanmar courts have sentenced nine activists to up to 37 years in prison for participating in a protest that urged the public to boycott last December\u2019s elections. Eight protesters against the military government, including prominent activist Htet Myat Aung, &#8230; <a title=\"Myanmar court sentences activists to 37 years over election protest\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/29\/myanmar-court-sentences-activists-to-37-years-over-election-protest\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Myanmar court sentences activists to 37 years over election protest\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}