Yangon - A popular blogger who liked to post real-life stories of Myanmar people has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison, associates confirmed on Tuesday.

Nay Myo Kyaw, who was better known by his blogger alias Nay Phone Latt, was on Monday sentenced to 20 years and six months in jail by the Insein Prison Special Court in Yangon.

"He was sentenced to two years under section 505(b) of the Penal Code, three and half years under sections 32(b)/36 of the Video Act and 15 years under section
33(a)/38 of the Electronic Communication Act," said a close friend of Nay Myo Kyaw's who asked to remain anonymous.

Nay Myo Kyaw, a youth member of the opposition National League for Democracy and owner of several internet cafés in Yangon, was arrested on January 29, just three months after the so-called Saffron Revolution led by Buddhist monks in the former capital.

The weeks of monks-led protests ended in a brutal military crackdown in September 2007, that left more than 30 dead, hundreds missing and thousands in prison.

Nay Myo Kyaw ran his own blog that often featured the hardships suffered by the Myanmar population, who have been under military rule since 1962.

"A person can be only imprisoned, but not the spirit," some of his friends wrote in a message on his blog, http://nayphonelatt.blogspot.com/ just after his imprisonment. (dpa)