Myanmar’s mining ministry on Thursday said it had applied to drop its defamation case against the Voice Weekly newspaper, which had reported allegations of graft at the government department.
In the latest sign that Myanmar’s sweeping reforms are easing the pressure on the country’s long-repressed media, the ministry said it had asked a Yangon court to withdraw charges against the publication after talks with a recently-formed press council.
“We decided to settle the case after negotiations with the press council. There was no press council when the case started,” Zaw Ko Ko, the director of the Ministry of Mining, told AFP after a hearing on Thursday.
The move will not immediately halt the prosecution, however, with the court yet to decide whether it will accept the application.
The Voice was charged with defamation last September over an article stating that the auditor-general’s office had discovered the misappropriation of funds and fraud at the department.
Its report linked the alleged graft to a Chinese co-owned copper mine in Monywa, northern Sagaing division, where activists’ accusations of land grabbing and pollution have sparked a series of protests.
Myanmar has won plaudits for a wide range of reforms under a new government that replaced the military regime in 2011, including the welcoming of Aung San Suu Kyi and her party into mainstream politics and efforts to unshackle the media.
In August Myanmar announced the end of pre-publication scrutiny by government officials, which previously applied to everything from newspapers to song lyrics and even fairy tales.
The country set up the interim press council to draft a new media law and has also announced it will allow private newspapers to publish daily from April 1, ending a decades-old ban.
Kyaw Min Swe, the editor of the Voice Weekly who is also a member of the press council, told AFP that the ministry planned to revoke its claim.
“The new minister recognised the role of the media and he wanted to resolve the case smoothly,” he said.
Under the country’s Printing Act 1962, both individuals and organisations can sue publications for defamation, in a nation where for decades the judiciary acted as a tool of the junta and is still perceived as lacking independence.
But the law itself is now being reviewed as part of the country’s reform drive.
Myanmar ministry to drop newspaper defamation case
