YANGON, Myanmar — A dissident monk who helped lead an uprising against the government is facing new legal action, in part for breaking into monasteries sealed by the former military junta after the mass street protests five years ago, state media reported Sunday.
Shin Gambira is facing charges of “squatting” illegally in a monastery shut by the government and breaking into two others, the state-run New Light of Myanmar said.
The 33-year-old monk was one of the leaders of the Saffron Revolution, a 2007 uprising led by Buddhist monks against the then-ruling military junta that saw the streets of the main city, Yangon, swell with some 100,000 demonstrators.
The army brutally crushed the protests and shut some monasteries in the aftermath. The uprising was named after the color of robes worn by the militant young monks who spearheaded it.
Shin Gambira was jailed during those protests but released Jan. 13 after a half-decade behind bars. His freedom came as part of a mass prisoner release that has been hailed as a sign of Myanmar’s new government’s willingness to make reforms.
Earlier this month, authorities briefly detained Shin Gambira again and questioned him in regard to breaking into monasteries after he allegedly ignored a summons to report for questioning. He was released shortly after.
Among other complaints, he charged that the state-sponsored central Buddhist monk organization, the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, had not pushed for the freedom of 43 other monks arrested after the 2007 uprising, the New Light of Myanmar said.
That and other complaints were “a slap in the face” to the central monks’ body, the state newspaper said. As a result, the monk body has asked authorities to take legal action against Shin Gambira, who will be charged and tried by the state.
Shin Gambira has also publicly voiced skepticism about the new government’s commitment to democratic reforms.
The United States and European Union have called the progress positive steps forward but say they will be closely watching an upcoming April by-election before deciding whether to lift sanctions that were imposed during military rule.
The country’s nominally civilian government came to power last year after a half-century of army rule.
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