Nay Lin, a correspondent for the BBC Burmese service, walked free from a court in Mandalay on Thursday, when he won an appeal against a conviction for punching a policeman.

Thein Than Oo, a lawyer for the reporter, told DVB that the Mandalay district court on 21 July commuted the remaining one month and a half of his three-month sentence.

“Nay Lin was jailed on 6 June, exactly one month and half ago, so he has served half his his sentence. He walked free today,” the lawyer said.

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Thein Than Oo praised the court’s decision to free his client, saying it was a sign of positive reforms taking place in the judicial sector under a new civilian government.

Nay Lin was charged under Article 322 of the Penal Code – voluntarily causing harm to deter a public servant from his or her duty – over an incident in Mandalay in March 2015 when he had an altercation with a policeman. The latter sustained a minor cut to his eyebrow. Nay Lin had been covering a protest by university students calling for education reforms.