Kachin News Group / BNI Online | April 20, 2018

A local Kachin internally displaced person (IDP), U Lahpai Gum, has been released under the presidential amnesty on April 17 after being wrongfully  convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison for violating the Unlawful Associations Act and the Explosive Substances Act even though he was not a soldier from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

U Lahpai Gum was from In Paw Village of Waingmaw Township and he came to Inset Christian IDP camp in Myitkyina together with his family in June 2011.

He was hired to take care of cattle in the direction of Tar Law Gyi Village on June 12, 2012 and he was arrested by the Tatmadaw. After being brutally tortured, he is suffering from internal injuries and gout, according to U Lahpai Gum.

“I have an internal injury because I was brutally tortured. Even though I said that I wasn’t from the KIA, they wrongly accused me and sent me to prison. I don’t think I can do hard labor now due to these injuries. Since we are living at the IDP camp, our financial situation is bad. I have children. They need to attend school. I have to earn money for them. I don’t know what work I should do. My health condition isn’t good. I feel sad because of this,” he said.
He initially hoped the previous U Htin Kyaw administration would release him but he was only released now after U Htin Kyaw retired and the new president took office. He expressed his gratitude towards the new president U Win Myint for his release.

U Lahpai Gum’s wife sought the assistance of Kachin religious leaders, lawyers, and the Kachin National Consultative Assembly, also known as the WMR, and submitted to the President and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to release her husband but he was not released until now.

Although he was not guilty, U Lahpai Gum spent six years in prison before he was released under the presidential amnesty.

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This article originally appeared on BNI Online on April 20, 2018.

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