A man from Switzerland was arrested along with more than a dozen locals in military-ruled Myanmar for allegedly insulting Buddhism, according to reports by state media on August 19th.
Swiss national arrested in military-ruled Myanmar for allegedly insulting Buddhism in filmhttps://t.co/4iVRmUeMfD
— Tran Dinh Hoanh (@tdhoanh) August 20, 2023
State-owned newspaper Myanma Alinn said that a 52-year-old Swiss citizen named Didier Nusbaumer was arrested on August 8th along with 13 Myanmar nationals, including a 12-year-old girl.
The report by the newspaper said Nusbaumer wrote, filmed, and edited a 75-minute-long film named “Don’t Expect Anything,” which was posted on YouTube last July 24th. The movie, uploaded by the YouTube channel Isi Dhamma, is about a 12-year-old girl who discovered she was a respected spiritual master in her past life.
Short clips from the film spread on other social media platforms like TikTok and Facebook, infuriating many Buddhist nationalists in Myanmar. Insulting Buddhism is a criminal offense in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where religious nationalism has surged recently. Around 90% of Myanmar’s population identifies as Buddhist.
“Although the people in the film’s main roles are Buddhist, they behaved inappropriately and degraded the dignity and morals of monks through their physical gestures and dialogue,” the news report said.
The report did not provide further information on where suspects were being held. Nusbaumer is not the first foreigner imprisoned in Myanmar after allegedly insulting Buddhism.
Not a huge surprise in Myanmar and Thailand as a neighboring country has a very strict lese-majeste law that forbids any criticism or negative journalism against the royal monarchy. Freedom of speech & expression isn’t fully allowed in these Buddhist countries. Japan as a…
— Dan Kunio Sparkman (@DanRSparkman) August 21, 2023
A New Zealand citizen was arrested along with two Myanmar nationals in March 2015 and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison along with hard labor for insulting Buddhism in an online ad showing a psychedelic depiction of the Buddha wearing DJ-style headphones. He was deported the following year.
A Dutch tourist was imprisoned for three months with hard labor in October 2016 for insulting Buddhism after unplugging a loudspeaker used by Buddhist monks to broadcast late-night sermons in Mandalay, the second-largest city in Myanmar. He was deported after serving his jail term. A Spanish tourist was also deported from Myanmar the same year after authorities found a tattoo of the Buddha on his leg.
A military junta has ruled Myanmar since February 2021, after the military overthrew the democratically-elected government led by Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
