Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - According to local media and the junta's publicity team, a Japanese documentary filmmaker detained in...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - According to local media and the junta's publicity team, a Japanese documentary filmmaker detained in Myanmar is accused of violating immigration laws and inciting opposition against the country's military government.
According to an official statement seen by Reuters, Toru Kubota, 26, entered Myanmar on a vacation visa on July 1 and was detained while covering a protest in Yangon 30 days later.
Since the generals took over in a coup in February of last year, which sparked widespread protests that were violently put down by the military, Myanmar has been in upheaval.
Since then, the army has engaged in combat on a number of fronts, including new rebel organisations that are associated with a shadow government.
The dissent and immigration accusations Kubota could receive a maximum sentence of five years in prison or two years in prison.
Requests for comment from the Japanese government and its consulate in Yangon were not immediately fulfilled. Tokyo is demanding the release of the arrested guy, according to a Japanese government spokesperson on Sunday.
According to Kubota's personal website, he has collaborated with media organisations such Al Jazeera English, Yahoo! News Japan, and VICE JAPAN.
On Wednesday, his colleagues and fellow journalists in Tokyo made an appeal for his release, and 47,000 people have joined an internet petition to do the same.
In Myanmar last year, a freelance Japanese journalist who had been covering anti-coup demonstrations had first been detained and accused of distributing fake information. According to the junta, his release was in honour of the strong links between the two nations.
A Japanese journalist was shot and murdered by military in Myanmar in 2007 while participating in a pro-democracy march.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a civil society organisation that has been chronicling the crackdown, more than 11,800 people are now being held in jail in Myanmar because they have voiced their opposition to the junta.
