Cartoonist Chit Swe, a member of Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition, has been released from jail after serving a one-month sentence, an international media-rights group and Myanmar's main opposition said yesterday.
Reporters Without Borders said the 65-year-old activist for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) was "released on completing a one-month prison sentence on 23 August."
An NLD spokesman in Yangon said Chit Swe was released on Thursday afternoon, and was reportedly in good health.
Chit Swe was sent to Yangon's notorious Insein jail after being convicted of "defying the orders of the authorities" under a state-of-emergency law often used against government opponents, Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.
Chit Swe, who reportedly suffers from heart problems and chronic bronchitis, was arrested on July 12 shortly after an NLD meeting was convened at his home.
Reporters Without Borders said that he has denied any wrongdoing, saying the meeting was simply a discussion among colleagues.
The artist's cartoons in two financial magazines, Dana and Myanmar Dana, often portray socioeconomic problems in the country.
Although Chit Swe had not visited the NLD's Yangon headquarters by early yesterday afternoon, the NLD "heard that he was in good health," NLD spokesman and lawyer Nyan Win said. "He will be on duty in the future."
Nyan Win said that he and the NLD were happy about the release.
He said that the cartoonist had worked very hard for the league since its founding 17 years ago.
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