Tin Tun

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U Tin Tun is a jailed Burmese political dissident, Asian boxing champion, and one of the pioneers of the now-extinct Scouting movement in that nation,^[1] imprisoned under the Publishing and Printing Act in July 1993 for possessing a copy of the Khit Pyaing (New Era) Journal, a banned news magazine published by exiled activists.^[2]

U Tin Tun represented the Union of Burma Boy Scouts in the five-man Far East Scout Advisory Committee (FESAC), which would later become the Asia-Pacific Region.^[1]

[edit] Political activities

According to the All Burma Students' Democratic Front, U Tin Tun bought a copy of Khit Pyaing, a banned political publication, for the price of 3,000 kyat, according to a close relative of U Tin Tun, and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment under two different charges of violating the Emergency Provision Act and the Publishing and Printing Act.^[2]

The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) transferred U Tin Tun on Friday November 14, 1997, from Insein Attached Jail (Special Jail) in Rangoon to Thayawaddy Prison in central Burma.^[3] The junta released U Tin Tun from jail early in 2004. U Tin Tun was not freed for completing his sentence, but released on health grounds and on the condition that serves the remainder of the sentence if he is jailed again for political or other offenses.^[2]

U Tin Tun's son Ko Phone Myint Tun, currently in Japan, told Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) that his father is suffering from severe coronary atherosclerosis and could not even walk properly. Ko Phone Myint Tun himself was jailed as a political prisoner from 1991 to 1995 and shared a cell with his father in jail.^[2]