Dumdaw Nawng Lat, 67, and Langjaw Gam Seng, 35, were imprisoned on 27 October for a combined six and a half years for ‘exposing the military’s crimes’.
The two Christian leaders assisted visiting journalists reporting on damage caused by military air-strikes to a church and other civilian structures in Muse, northern Shan State, in late 2016. Consequently, the military arrested them. Signed confessions that they supported the Kachin Independence Army – which their lawyers claim were signed under extreme duress – were the only evidence used to convict them.
Ethnic Burman identity is closely linked to Buddhism in this 87% Buddhist nation. Christianity is portrayed as a foreign religion, although it has been present since the late 1700s. The mainly Christian Kachin people suffer great persecution, including desecration of their churches, sexual violence and forced conversions.
