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Nationalist leader Aye Maung was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan state in western Burma, where the Burmese army is repressed against the Rohingya Muslim minority .
With our correspondent in Yangon, Eliza Hunt
Aye Maung was found guilty of high treason, after criticizing the Burmese government in a speech. According to Rangoon, in January 2018, Aye Maung said: " The Arakanese are perceived as slaves by the country's Bamar ethnic majority, they do not have the same rights as the others. "
The nationalist leader would also have called on the crowd to take advantage of the government's weakness and to fight for the sovereignty of the Arakan state , alluding to the armed struggle. A speech in the town of Mrauk U, where demonstrations had made the following day seven dead among the ethnic Arakan , killed by the police, sign of growing tensions.
Regain of tensions
The verdict against Aye Maung, also known for his anti-Rohingya speeches, was highly anticipated and hundreds of people gathered in court Tuesday morning. A verdict that could increase support for the guerrillas of the Arakan Army, while tensions are already high in the region.
In recent months, fighting has intensified between the rebellion and the Burmese army recently affecting the town of Mrauk U, a tourist site of Arakan. Two weeks ago, nine police officers were killed by Arakanese rebels. Fighting causes the flight of thousands of civilians, injuring some of them, and humanitarian access has been restricted.