YANGON, Myanmar – Authorities in Myanmar have sentenced three Muslims to 14-year prison terms for their role in an outbreak of sectarian violence that shook central Myanmar last month.
The convictions are the first reported after unrest ravaged the central city of Meikhtila for several days, leaving more than 40 people dead and more than 12,000 displaced, most of them Muslim.
Advocate-General Ye Aung Myint says the three were sentenced Thursday on charges of theft and causing grievous bodily harm.
The trio worked at a gold shop where a quarrel between Muslim workers and a Buddhist customer degenerated into a wave of anti-Muslim attacks across the city.
State prosecutors say they are building 13 separate cases against dozens people allegedly involved in the unrest, including both Buddhists and Muslims.
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