A former monk and influential leader of Myanmar’s 2007 anti-junta uprising has been freed from jail and charges against him dropped, his lawyer said yesterday, just a day after new charges were levelled against him.
Nyi Nyi Lwin, better known by his ordination name, Shin Gambira, was arrested in January for allegedly entering Myanmar illegally from neighbouring Thailand. He had been set to be freed yesterday, but on both Tuesday and Thursday new charges stemming from alleged trespassing in 2012 were brought against him in two separate Yangon townships.
Robert San Aung, his lawyer, said on Friday that these charges had been dropped and that Shin Gambira was now free. “They [the judge] just said the he was freed completely after cancelling all the charges against him,” he said.
Shin Gambira said by phone that he was happy with the decision and would now focus on his health. “I’m very happy to be free again. At the moment I have to receive medical treatment for my mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said.
The additional charges this week were for allegedly breaking into monasteries sealed by the government in 2012.