According to a Japanese diplomatic source, the Myanmar judiciary sentenced a Japanese journalist to 10 years in prison on Thursday after finding him guilty of inciting people to rebel against the nation’s ruling military junta and breaking a statute governing electronic communications.
The source, a diplomat at the Japanese embassy in Rangoon, reported that a judge in the Insen Prango jail had given filmmaker Toru Kubota a ten-year term, adding that his fellow countryman’s trial for breaking immigration law “is still underway.”
The country’s commercial centre of Rangoon was hosting a protest against the military council on July 26 when security forces detained Kubota, 26, along with two other citizens of Myanmar.
He was initially accused of violating both an immigration statute and a rule that makes it illegal to urge people to rebel against the military council in power.
According to Kubota’s Film Freeway page, the Japanese videographer has previously produced movies about “refugees, and ethnic issues in Myanmar,” as well as the plight of the Muslim Rohingya minority.
The governing military council cracked down on press freedoms, detained journalists and cameramen, and revoked some broadcasting licences.
A Japanese journalist was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Myanmar.
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