Update info:
19 Apr 2016 (Suspended)
Latest info:
5 Nov 2015
Country:
UNION OF MYANMAR
Subject:
Kyaw Ko Ko
Gender m/f: m
Period:
19 May 2016
Distribution date:
19 Apr 2016
UA No:
247/2015

Prominent student unionist Kyaw Ko Ko was released from prison on 8 April after courts in Myanmar dropped charges against scores of student protesters.

On 8 April, Kyaw Ko Ko, a prominent student unionist and Chairman of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), was released from prison after all charges against him were dropped. His release came a day after the new government announced that it would work to release all prisoners of conscience as soon as possible. 

Kyaw Ko Ko was arrested by plain clothes police officers on 29 October 2015 in Thingangyun Township, in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. He was arrested in connection with a peaceful protest he organized on 10 March 2015 in Yangon against the violent dispersal of a student march earlier that day in Letpadan, Bago Region. After the protest on 10 March the police issued an arrest warrant against him for his role in organising the protest and he went into hiding. He was subsequently charged with a range of criminal offences, and was facing over six years’ imprisonment for his peaceful activities.

Kyaw Ko Ko should have never been imprisoned in the first place. Amnesty International is continuing to campaign for the release of all prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.

Thank you to all those who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network.

Further information on UA: 247/15 Index: ASA 16/3834/2016 Issue Date: 14 April 2016