Swiss citizen arrested in Myanmar for film said to insult Buddhism
The news report said a Swiss citizen wrote, filmed and edited a 75-minute long film titled, “Don’t Expect Anything”. The film was said to depict Buddhists who were behaving "inappropriately".
Keystone / Lynn Bo Bo
A Swiss citizen was arrested in Myanmar for creating a film that allegedly insulted Buddhism.
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Didier Nusbaumer was arrested on August 8 along with 13 Myanmar nationals, including a 12-year-old girl, the Myanmar state-run newspaper, Myanma Alinn, newspaper reported on Saturday.
Insulting Buddhism is a punishable offense in Myanmar, where religious nationalism has surged in recent years, reports The Associated PressExternal link. About 90% of Myanmar people are Buddhist.
The news report said that 52-year-old Nusbaumer wrote, filmed and edited the 75-minute long film titled, Don’t Expect Anything, which was posted on YouTube on July 24. Short clips from the movie spread on social media including on TikTok and Facebook, drawing rebukes from Buddhist nationalists in Myanmar.
“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 media report said.
Authorities have not said where Nusbaumer or the other 13 arrested are being held.
Myanmar has been ruled by a military junta since February 2021, when it seized power from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Nusbaumer is not the first foreigner to be detained in Myanmar after being accused of insulting Buddhism.
In March 2015, a New Zealand citizen who was arrested together with two Myanmar nationals, was sentenced to a two and a half years prison sentence with hard labor for insulting Buddhism after having published an online advertisement that showed a psychedelic depiction of Buddha wearing DJ-style headphones. He was deported the following year.
In October 2016, a Dutch tourist was jailed for three months with hard labor for insulting Buddhism after he unplugged a loudspeaker used by Buddhist monks to broadcast a late-night sermon in the country’s second-largest city, Mandalay. He was deported after serving his jail term.
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