Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Court rules The Voice doesn’t have to reveal name of journalist

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Wednesday, 23 May 2012 18:52 Phanida

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A Dagon Township court has ruled that The Voice weekly journal is not required to reveal the name of a journalist sought by the Ministry of Mines in a lawsuit. 

Kyaw Min Swe, the chief editor of The Voice weekly journal, said the judge ruled that the newspaper did not have to reveal the name of the writer based on journalistic code of ethics. The next hearing in the lawsuit will be June 6.

The Voice newspaper

Kyaw Min Swe said that the journal would continue to defend itself in the lawsuit, claiming it not libel or defame the ministry in reporting information about financial transgressions obtain from a government report.

“We can say that it is a fair ruling. We will continue to defend our case,” said Kyaw Min Swe.

Attorney Win Shwe said more than 30 journalists attended the Wednesday hearing at the court.

The Voice issue on March 12 said that the Ministry of Mines sold 50 per cent of the shares in the Monywa copper mines, owned by the ministry, to the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL), but that a foreign company paid the money on behalf of UMEHL.

The Voice said the information was obtained from a report by the Union auditor-general to the Lower House’s Public Accounts Committee.

“All of the facts are reliable,” Kyaw Min Swe said. “We’ve got a 36-page report… In fact, our news does not contain all the details of the report. The details of it are more serious,” said Kyaw Min Swe.

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