Kayah State High Court on Friday rejected the Tatmadaw's petition to increase the current sentences of 21 people who are farmers and their associates in Kayah State, according to the group’s lawyer Khoo Talay Poe Reh, after they were jailed for farming on military land.

The judge said that the initial decision of the Loikaw District Court was appropriate, so he decided that the sentences should not be increased, according to the lawyer.

The group was released in early March after completing their sentences.

The ethnic Karenni peasants were sued under sections 447, 294, 353, and 427 of the Penal Code and section 6 (1) of the Public Property Protection Act in 2019 for allegedly damaging public property and trespassing on military land.

Loikaw Township Court on 13 August gave each of them a six-month prison sentence and fined each of them Kyat 20,000.

The Loikaw-based Artillery Unit number 356, and the Infantry Battalion number 250, insisted that the sentences were not enough, and submitted the petition to increase the sentences.

The Karenni State Farmers Union claims the land was seized from farmers in 1990. The Tatmadaw began fencing off land in the area in May 2019.