Updated

Myanmar news reports say the head of a major media group and a top editor have been arrested on criminal charges of defaming a senior official.

The Frontier news website reported Friday that Eleven Media Group CEO Than Htut Aung and chief editor Ko Wai Phyo were sent to Insein Prison after surrendering to police on the charges, which are punishable by up to three years' imprisonment.

Phyo Min Thein, de facto governor of Yangon, the country's biggest city, is the first senior official in Aung San Suu Kyi's government to sue a member of the media. He had his office sue the Eleven Media Group officials over an article and online posting that he said suggested he accepted a bribe in exchange for approving a development project.