Police in an anti-coup protest in Amarapura Township on Feb. 19 last year after the coup.

By THE IRRAWADDY 

A police lieutenant colonel from the Criminal Investigation Department detained for criticizing Myanmar junta’s vehicle-ramming attack on anti-regime protesters in Yangon has purportedly been sentenced to three years in prison.

Lt Col Zaw Win Ko was detained on Feb. 8 after he posted criticism on social media of the regime’s fatal vehicle-ramming attack on protesters in Kyimyindaing Township on December 5.

“They are devoid of humanity and are worse than animals,” he wrote on Facebook. He has been detained in Naypyitaw since February and charged for incitement and violation of the Myanmar Police Force Maintenance of Discipline Law.

He was sentenced to three years and sent to Yamethin Prison on March 11, according to his friends.

According to People’s Embrace, a group helping security forces personnel refusing to work for the regime, nearly 6,000 police officers have joined the civil disobedience movement since the coup.

Myanmar’s military regime is reportedly planning to scrap six police units and transfer the officers to fill holes in departments regarded as more important.

Among the units set to be cut are the Maritime Police Force, Aviation Police Force, Tourist Security Police Force, Oil Field Security Police Force, Forestry Security Police Force and Highway Police Force, according to police sources.

Burmese version.

Original Post: The Irrawaddy