RANGOON, Burma — A Burma court sentenced two ethnic Kachin Baptist pastors to prison terms Friday on charges of supporting rebels and defaming the military, their lawyers said.
The two were detained by the army in northern Shan state in December after they were initially reported missing after heavy fighting area between the government and a coalition of Kachin and three other ethnic guerrilla groups.
Pastor Dumdaw Nawng Lat, 65, and Baptist youth leader Langjaw Gam Seng, 35, helped journalists cover the aftermath of a military offensive in Mongko town where a Catholic church was bombed and destroyed in an airstrike in November 2016.
After a nearly 9-month-long trial, the Lashio court in Shan state sentenced Nawng Lat to 4 years and 3 months in prison and Gam Seng to 2 years and 3 months.
Human Rights Watch and Fortify Rights, an international rights group, in a joint statement called for their immediate release, saying the pastors were being prosecuted for exposing the military’s crimes.
Burma is often called Myanmar, a name that military authorities adopted in 1989.
Some nations, such as the United States and Britain, have refused to adopt the name change.