<p class="title">A Myanmar filmmaker was sentenced to a year in prison on Thursday for criticising the military, as free expression advocates warned of "grave threats" to those who challenge the powerful armed forces.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, an activist and founder of human rights film festivals, was detained in April following a Facebook post in which he slammed the 2008 military-drafted constitution.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The charter is deeply unpopular in Myanmar as it gifts the armed services three-quarters of parliamentary seats and control of three ministries despite an ostensible transition to civilian rule.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He was sentenced under a law that criminalises incitement by publishing statements causing "fear or alarm" to the public.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I wasn't surprised because I expected what was coming," Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi told reporters as he was led from the Insein courthouse in Yangon.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The ruling will take into account time served since his arrest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The free expression group Article 19 said the case was further evidence of the "grave threats faced by those who criticise the Myanmar military".</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The conviction... demonstrates the extreme vulnerability of outspoken activists and artists in contemporary Myanmar," said Matthew Bugher, head of Article 19's Asia programme.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi was one of a number of activists arrested in recent months in cases that flew under the radar after the high-profile release from jail of Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in May.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He was sentenced in the same place where the two reporters were convicted in 2018 of violating state secrets after revealing a massacre of Rohingya Muslims.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They were freed by presidential pardon after spending more than 500 days in jail.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Reuters case further damaged the legacy of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has gone from icon to pariah for failing to stand up for the persecuted Rohingya.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Myanmar is ranked 138 out of 180 countries for press freedom by Reporters Without Borders.</p>
<p class="title">A Myanmar filmmaker was sentenced to a year in prison on Thursday for criticising the military, as free expression advocates warned of "grave threats" to those who challenge the powerful armed forces.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, an activist and founder of human rights film festivals, was detained in April following a Facebook post in which he slammed the 2008 military-drafted constitution.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The charter is deeply unpopular in Myanmar as it gifts the armed services three-quarters of parliamentary seats and control of three ministries despite an ostensible transition to civilian rule.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He was sentenced under a law that criminalises incitement by publishing statements causing "fear or alarm" to the public.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I wasn't surprised because I expected what was coming," Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi told reporters as he was led from the Insein courthouse in Yangon.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The ruling will take into account time served since his arrest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The free expression group Article 19 said the case was further evidence of the "grave threats faced by those who criticise the Myanmar military".</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The conviction... demonstrates the extreme vulnerability of outspoken activists and artists in contemporary Myanmar," said Matthew Bugher, head of Article 19's Asia programme.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi was one of a number of activists arrested in recent months in cases that flew under the radar after the high-profile release from jail of Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in May.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He was sentenced in the same place where the two reporters were convicted in 2018 of violating state secrets after revealing a massacre of Rohingya Muslims.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They were freed by presidential pardon after spending more than 500 days in jail.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Reuters case further damaged the legacy of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has gone from icon to pariah for failing to stand up for the persecuted Rohingya.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Myanmar is ranked 138 out of 180 countries for press freedom by Reporters Without Borders.</p>