‘Damaged dignity’ sees Times writer guilty of defamation

'Damaged dignity' sees Times writer guilty of defamation

By Phyo Wai Kyaw   |   Sunday, 30 March 2014

A senior reporter from The Myanmar Times was found guilty of defamation and fined K10,000 after a 10-month legal battle in Mandalay.

Ko Si Thu Lwin was found guilty by the Madaya Township Court on March 28 on charges filed over allegations that his coverage of a power line dispute in Mandalay Region "damaged the dignity" of electricity department officials.

He was given the option of serving a one-month prison sentence or paying the fine.

The verdict was originally delayed from February 21 to March 7, and again from March 18 to March 28. He attended 22 hearings over the course of the case.

Ko Si Thu Lwin wrote a series of articles for The Myanmar Times last year covering a conflict over the installation of power lines in Madaya. Residents argued the lines should bypass the town, rather than be run down the main street, for environmental and safety reasons.

The controversy was first reported in the paper's Myanmar-language edition on May 24. On May 29, Madaya township electricity engineer U Nyan Htun submitted a complaint to police alleging Ko Si Thu Lwin's article contained "some words that damaged the dignity of the electricity department and its staff".

The Myanmar Times' Editor-in-Chief Ross Dunkley said the company would pay the costs of the fine and take immediate steps to lodge an appeal, saying that the company believed its reporter was acting entirely within the law.

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2014/04/01/damaged-dignity-sees-times-writer-guilty-of-defamation/