Aung Chan Thar, a reporter with the local Burma VJ news outlet, was arrested in September 2023 and is being detained on undisclosed charges in Yangon.
Burma VJ is a multimedia network of citizen and professional journalists that covers politics, conflict, and human rights in Myanmar. Aung Chan Thar covers politics, human rights, and conflict for the independent news organization.
His arrest came in the wake of the military’s February 1, 2021, democracy-suspending coup and subsequent protests. Since then, the military junta has engaged in an ongoing crackdown on Myanmar’s independent media, detaining and sentencing dozens of journalists.
In the late afternoon of September 1, 2023, Aung Chan Thar, also known as Nay Aung, was arrested while returning from a work assignment in Yangon, according to Burma VJ editor Aung Htun, who communicated with CPJ via messaging app, and a database compiled by the Detained Journalists Information Myanmar private Facebook group, which CPJ reviewed. Aung Chan Thar’s Burma VJ colleague, Lwin Than Htike, was arrested on the same day.
Aung Chan Thar was being held at an investigation center in the city’s north in mid-November and had not yet been charged with any crime, Aung Htun said.
As of late 2023, the Myanmar Ministry of Information did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment on Aung Chan Thar‘s arrest and legal status.