Myanmar: Military targets traditional performers

YANGON, Myanmar

A trial began on Monday in Myanmar against satirical performers who were charged of mocking the country’s armed forces.

Police arrested five members of university student-led Peacock Generation Thangyat troupe over the past week as they face criminal charges filed by a regional military commands for satirizing the military during a performance at this year’s Thingyan festival.

Later released on bail, the students face a maximum four-year prison-sentence, a fine or both.

Defamation charges against all 25 members were then pressed by a separate command center for their live broadcast.

"Thangyat", a satirical performance is a form of slam poetry that combines folk verses with traditional musical ensembles or drumbeats and is interspersed with song, dance, and chants traditionally performed during Myanmar’s New Year water festival of Thingyan.

Kay Khine Tun, a member of Peacock Generation who was arrested on Friday, said authorities should no longer pre-censor Thangyat performances, which was banned during the military rule until 2011.

She along with four other troupe-members also face criminal charges for failing to submit their script to censors prior to performing.

"If you ban or pre-censor Thangyat, you would not hear the public voice," said Kay Khine Tun after the court hearing in’s Mayangone, Yangon.

"We consider the arrests and charges as attack on freedom of expression," she added.

New York-based Human Rights Watch last week urged Myanmar government and military to drop charges against the performers.

"Myanmar’s authorities are demonstrating once again their intolerance of criticism, even in satirical form," said HRW’s Asia legal advisor Linda Kakhdir in a statement issued on last Wednesday.

"Rather than arresting their critics, the government should listen to what they have to say," she said.