Nine political parties led by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has issued a statement in support of U Wirathu in a legal case between the extremist monk and Ko Swe Win, the editor in chief of Myanmar Now. The statement issued by the parties on 8 April denounced a stance by the Ministry of Religion and Culture in support of the journalist. The journalist is facing two defamation lawsuits filed by the followers of U Wirathu after Ko Swe Win wrote a post on the social media Facebook critical the monk for praising the killers of a prominent Muslim lawyer U Ko Ni. Ko Swe Win sought opinion from the ministry if his comment against the monk could amount to defamation to the Buddhist religion. The ministry ruled in favour of Ko Swe Win. The statement from the parties said the support to the journalist by the ministry could trigger conflict and the ministry would be responsible for the consequences. It also accused the ministry of interfering in the legal matters, although the paragraph 2 of the ministry letter said it has no intention to interfere in a dispute, which is in the court of law. The parties said the ministry’s stance could encourage those who show disrespect to the religion and the court of law. Apart from the USDP, the New Democracy Party, the National Progressive Party, Myanmar National Alliance Party, the New Age Party, Myanmar National Congress Party, and the Peace and Diversity Party and the Wuthanu Party. U Wirathu campaigned for former president U Thein Sein, who is a USDP member, during the previous general elections in 2015.He said at an event in Yangon on 11 September 2015 to vote for former president for the interest of the nation even though many people disliked him personally. He was speaking at an event marking change of name of a park to a Rakhine nationalist monk U Ottama. The extremist monk also spoke in March 2016 against electing Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as the president. Reference: Democracy Today 9 April 2017