2 Myanmar newspaper editors fined for insulting president

Myanmar President Thein Sein AP FILE PHOTO

YANGON, Myanmar — A Myanmar court has found two newspaper editors guilty of violating the country’s media law by insulting the president, and fined each of them 1 million kyat ($809).

Nine other staff members of the weekly Myanmar Herald were acquitted Tuesday in a case filed by the Information Ministry last November after publication of an interview with a political analyst who described President Thein Sein as a fool.

The case was one of several seen by press freedom advocates as an effort to intimidate the media ahead of a general election scheduled for this November.

The paper’s chief editor, Kyaw Swa Win, and the deputy chief editor, Arnt Khaung Min, were fined by a court in the capital, Naypyitaw, for violating the media law by printing articles affecting an individual’s reputation.