Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights
Prize
"The International tribute from
Lawyers to a Lawyer"
Depuis/Since/Desde/Dal/Seit/Sinds 1984
Ywet Nu Aung Ludovic Trarieux Prize 2024
Ywet Nu Aung
BIRMANIE (MYANMAR)
On May 24, 2024, at the Rome courthouse, the 21 European
lawyers members of the Jury of the Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize
awarded the third round of voting with an absolute majority of 10. votes
to
Ywet Nu Aung
A Lawyer in Mandalay
MYANMAR (BIRMANIA)
Ywet Nu Aung (born
1979) 44, a well-known lawyer Mandalay is a member of the legal team representing the National League for Democracy
NLD s detained Mandalay chief minister Dr. Zaw Myint Maung,
who was hit with several criminal
charges by the junta after
the military coup on February
2021.
In 2017, Ywet
Nu Aung represented Swe
Win, editor-in-chief of Myanmar Now,
in a defamation lawsuit brought against him by supporters of Wirathu, a Buddhist monk notorious
for his anti-Muslim
sermons. The case stemmed from
an online post that the 44-year-old journalist shared on Facebook in 2017 which suggested
that Wirathu had violated the code of monastic ethics by praising the murderers of prominent Muslim lawyer Ko Ni, killed that year. As a result of working on Swe Win's case, she was threatened
both online and physically
by members of a Buddhist nationalist group Ma Ba Tha.
She rose to prominence
in 2019 when she was the lawyer
for Victoria, a preschool student
who was sexually
assaulted in in the
administrative capital Naypyitaw in
2019.The high-profile child rape
case enraged the public and the following
investigation and lawsuit quickly
garnered national attention. In what
became a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of child sexual abuse, people rallied on behalf of the three-year-old and her family, using
the slogan Justice for Victoria, a pseudonym employed to protect the girl s identity.
Ywet Nu Aung was arrested by Junta troops in Mandalay on April 28, 2022 at around
4am following a court hearing
in Obo Prison for Zaw Myint
Maung's case.Her office was also searched
and she was interrogated at the regime military base in Mandalay Palace before
being charged under Section 50 (j) of the Counter-Terrorism
Law with donating 300,000
kyats (around US$110) to the People s
Defense Force (PDF), which
the military regime labels
a terrorist organization. She was remanded
at the Chanayethazan Township court in Mandalay and denied access to visitors and was transferred to Obo in late May.
According to members of the legal community, the military council justified her detention by claiming that Ywet
Nu Aung had been implicated
in terrorist activities during testimony given by another Mandalay-based lawyer, Si Thu. He was arrested earlier
that month for his alleged involvement
in the resistance. Junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said that
she was arrested
for providing funds in
support of the People s Defence
Force (PDF), an anti-junta resistance
group and told that the military was interrogating
her after allegedly receiving incriminating information during testimony from a Mandalay-based PDF member in military custody.
On December 27, 2022, Ywet Nu Aung was sentenced to 15 years in prison under the regime forced labor
by a court controlled by the military
junta. She was found guilty
of violating Article 50(J) of the Anti-Terrorism
Law for allegedly providing
financial support of 300,000 kyats, or approximately $140, to the Mandalay People's
Defense Force(PDF).
Following the 2021
coup, lawyers who have represented
jailed activists and political opponents of the junta have also faced threats to their security for speaking out against the military s arbitrary detentions. The military council has placed a gag order on lawyers of NLD leaders, including
those representing detained State Counsellor Aung
San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, in an effort
to restrict information released
concerning their trials and
charges.
The following is the list
of prize winners :
1985: Nelson MANDELA (South Africa)
1992 Augusto Z IGA PAZ (Peru)
1994 Jadranka CIGELJ
(Bosnia-Herzegovina)
1996 Najib HOSNI (Tunisia) et Dalila
MEZIANE (Algeria)
1998 ZHOU Guoqiang (China)
2000 Esber YAGMURDERELI (Turkey)
2002 Mehrangiz KAR (Iran)
2003 Digna OCHOA et Barbara ZAMORA (Mexico).
2004 Akhtam NAISSE (Syria)
2005 Henri BURIN DES
ROZIERS (Brazil)
2006 Parvez IMROZ (India)
2007 Ren G MEZ
MANZANO (Cuba)
2008 U AYE MYINT (Birmania)
2009 Beatrice MTETWA
(Zimbabwe)
2010 Karinna MOSKALENKO (Russia)
2011 Fethi TERBIL (Libya)
2012 Muharrem ERBEY (Turkey)
2013 Vadim KURAMSHIN
(Kazakhstan)
2014 Mahienour el-MASSRY (Egypt)
2015 Walid Abu
al-KHAIR (Saudi Arabia)
2016 WANG Yu (China)
2017 Mohamed al-ROKEN
(United Arab Emirates)
2018 Nasrin SOTOUDEH (Iran)
2019 Rommel DURAN
CASTELLANOS (Colombia)
2020 Ebru et Barkin TIMTIK (Turkey)
2021 Freshta KARIMI (Afghanistan)
2022 Arminsalar DAVOUDI (Iran)
2023 Yulia YURHIELEVICH (Belarus)
