‘Hot monk’ actor sentenced to forced labor for opposing military coup in Myanmar
Leonard T. Koonce
2 min read
He became a staunch supporter of the pro-democracy movement after the February coup, participating in street protests and urging his more than one million followers on Facebook and Instagram to join us.
“Help us stop the crime against humanity,” he wrote in an Instagram post. His social media accounts were deleted after his arrest.
Khin Maung Myint, his lawyer, told AFP on Tuesday that Mr. Takhon had been “taken in prison for three years with forced labor” and that the family, “deeply saddened” by the sentence, had still not decided to to appeal or not.
A close acquaintance told the BBC that Mr Takhon was fully aware of the consequences of his activism and “was not at all afraid” at the time of his arrest.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, most of them young, took to the streets of Myanmar cities in an uprising known as the Spring Revolution after army chief Min Aung Hlaing arrested Ms. Suu Kyi and imposed military rule.
The junta responded with a violent crackdown that has left more than 1,300 dead to date.
Anti-junta fighters said on Tuesday that regime forces massacred dozens of civilians in the east of the country.
Save the Children yesterday / TUES confirmed that two of its missing staff were among more than 35 charred bodies found in Kayah state.
The two staff members were new fathers and were returning to their offices after work in a nearby village when they were forced out of their cars by government troops and killed alongside other civilians, the association said in A press release.
“This is absolutely horrible news,” said Gwen Hines, Managing Director of Save the Children UK.
“The violence against innocent civilians, including humanitarian workers, is intolerable, and this senseless attack is a violation of international humanitarian law,” he added.
