Judge hands 10-year sentences to 7 people for Yangon bank robbery

Win Htet Mar, Kyaw Zin Lin, Phyo Hein Kyaw and Thura Aung are among those accused of robbing the Global Treasure Bank (Supplied)

Five of the seven will now face another trial for a seperate robbery 

By Myanmar Now

A junta-controlled court in Yangon on Thursday handed 10-year sentences to seven people who were accused of robbing banks to fund the armed resistance against the coup regime.

The group allegedly stole 18.5 million kyat (roughly $10,300) from the Global Treasure Bank in South Okkalapa Township in July. They were charged under Section 395 of the Penal Code, which punishes violent robberies by armed gangs.

Those sentenced at the Eastern District Court included Win Htet Mar, a former local chair of the Youth for a New Society activist group and Kyaw Zin Lin, a member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions.

Thura Aung, Win Hteik Ko Ko, Min Hein Thu, and Phyo Hein Kyaw were also accused of involvement in the robbery, while taxi driver Lin Lin Hteik was accused of failing to hand over evidence to the police.

“The taxi driver was sentenced because he didn’t turn in the clothes and items involved in the robbery,” a lawyer familiar with the case told Myanmar Now.

Five of the seven will now face a second trial at the Western District Court for a seperate robbery at another Global Treasure Bank branch in Mayangone Township, the lawyer said.

The five are among a group accused of stealing 117.9 million kyat (roughly $66,000) during the robbery in August, according to the military-owned Myawady Daily newspaper.

Win Htet Mar was arrested at her house on 152nd street in Tamwe on the morning of September 19, while Kyaw Zin Lin was arrested on nearby Yan Gyi Aung street at around 2pm the same day, along with a suspect in the Mayangone robbery named Pyae Phyo Kyaw.

Burmese version.

Original Post: Myanmar Now