A court in Yangon has charged on 10 April a group of monks and members of pro Buddhist group for sedition for their role in protest last year in front of the United States Embassy. The protest was against a statement by the US embassy in which its acknowledge the existence of Rohingya in Myanmar. The Kamayut Township court charged 3 monks and 4 laymen under section 505 b of penal code related to insult against the state for staging the protest in front of the embassy without permission. The nationalists staged protest against the US embassy for using Rohingya community in a statement expressing condolences on the death of people in a boat incident in The Chaung camp in Sittwe. Those who are facing charges include prominent monks U Thusita and U Pamaukkha and they were initially charged under the article 19 of peaceful assembly law. The monk asked for their acquittal as they said the civilian court could not charge a monk without permission of the highest monk supervisory committee, the State Sangha Mahanayak Committee. However, the court rejected their appeal on 6 February. In a similar case, members of the Myanmar Nationalists Congress are facing charges under the article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly Law for organising a protest last July to protest a government decision to call Rohingya as Muslims from Rakhine State. The protest was led by U Win Ko Ko Latt, a member of the congress, who insisted that the government must continue to use Bengali as it was done by the previous government. Reference: Facebook page of Win Ko Ko Latt