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MAE SAI, Thailand – A Myanmar judge on Monday accused two Reuters journalists of violating the secret law of the colonial era in their coverage of the Rohingya crisis. The two will now go to trial in what has been a press freedom monitoring test in the country, which has been condemned by foreign governments and media monitoring bodies.
Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were charged with violating the country's official secrets law, an offense punishable by up to a maximum of one year. to 14 years in prison. They were arrested in December and accused of obtaining secret documents while they reported the killing of 10 Rohingya boys and men in Rakhine State, in the state of Iran. western Myanmar.
Judge U Ye Lwin, who presided over the trial, said that these men had been accused of "obtaining, collecting and transferring secret documents concerning police operations [Myanmar]"
. will now be tried, dragging the case for several weeks. It could take months before a decision is made on their guilt and if they will be sentenced, and for how long. The two journalists pleaded not guilty.
"If the judge wanted, he could drop the charges, because one of the main witnesses said that the journalists had been trapped," said Khin Maung Zaw, the men's lawyer. "But since he made his decision, we will defend that they have acted ethically to discover illegal acts in Rakhine State."
Zaw Htay, spokesman for the Government of Myanmar, did not answer on Monday. He said earlier in responses to the Washington Post that the court would make its decision in accordance with "the rule of law" and that the government has ensured that the couple would be able to defend themselves in court hearings. Stephen Adler, editor-in-chief and president of Reuters, said: "These Reuters journalists were doing their job independently and impartially, and there is no evidence or evidence to suggest that they have is doing something wrong or breaking any law … Today's decision casts serious doubt on Myanmar's commitment to press freedom and the rule of law. "
The pair's lawyers say that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were jailed by police officers, did not break the law. The two journalists were invited by police to a meeting on December 12 at a restaurant in Yangon, where they received papers that allegedly linked the security forces to an attack on Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State.
The journalists say that they were then immediately arrested by the police, who held them incommunicado for two weeks and accused them of "illegally obtaining" confidential documents.
Police captain Moe Yan Naing testified in court that he had been instructed to "trap" one of the two journalists by handing them the documents as a pretext for the police. ;arrest. The officer has since been sentenced to one year in prison for violating the police disciplinary code, and his family was expelled from his home in what the government declared to be an unrelated matter.
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Media organizations and the international community view the case as closely watched – contradictions, contradictory police reports and absurd moments – a decisive test of press freedom in Myanmar. condemned the decision, saying it "cast doubt" on the independence of the judiciary and made it complicit with the government's long-standing efforts to block reporting on the Rohingya crisis in the country. Rakhine State
"Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo deserve, and yet they face longer sentences than the soldiers who committed the crimes that they reported," said Matthew Bugher, the group's representative in Asia. "The government has made investigative journalism one of the most dangerous professions in the country."
As the judge made his decision, the family and friends of the pair seemed almost resigned to the news. , having seen their relatives commute. handcuffed and flanked by police for nearly seven months. Before being taken away by the police, Kyaw Soe Oo exchanged words with her daughter, a little girl, who was waiting behind barbed wire before the hearing began to get a glimpse of her father.
Wa Lone is known for his resilience and optimism during the proceedings, photographed with a two-inch signature raising the flashed gesture to cameras and reporters as he enters the Yangon courthouse.
After the court session, Wa Lone says the men were investigating
"We have done nothing wrong and nothing is wrong with ethics," he said. said.
Kyaw Ye Lynn brought back from Yangon.
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