Myanmar charges reporters with stealing state secrets

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A court in Myanmar on Monday charged two jailed Reuters journalists with obtaining secret state documents, moving the landmark press freedom case into its trial stage after six months of preliminary hearings.

Yangon district judge Ye Lwin charged reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, with breaching the Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Both journalists pleaded "not guilty" to the charges, telling the judge they had "followed journalistic ethics."

Wa Lone said he and Kyaw Soe Oo had committed no crime and would testify to their innocence in court.

Reporter Wa Lone and his wife Pan Ei Mon hug each other as he arrives at court in Yangon, Myanmar, Dec. 27, 2017. /VCG Photo

"Although we are charged, we are not guilty," he said, in handcuffs, as officials ushered him into a police vehicle. "We will not retreat, give up or be shaken by this."

The case has attracted global attention. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the decision was a "major setback" for press freedom in Myanmar.

"A free press is fundamental to democracy. Journalists not only keep citizens informed but they hold leaders accountable," Haley said. "We call on the Burmese government to allow these journalists to return to their families and continue their work."

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay did not answer calls for comment after the court ruling on Monday. He has declined to comment throughout the proceedings, saying Myanmar's courts are independent and the case would be conducted according to the law.

Trial phase

Reporter Kyaw Soe Oo and his sister Nyo Nyo Aye hug each other as he arrives at court in Yangon, Myanmar, Dec. 27, 2017. /VCG Photo

The judge said the court had filed charges against both reporters under section 3.1 (c) of the act to probe the prosecution's allegations that they collected and obtained secret documents pertaining to the security forces with the intention to harm national security.

The case was adjourned until July 16.

Proceedings will now enter the trial phase. Defense lawyers will summon witnesses before the judge, who will then deliver a verdict in a process likely to take several weeks, according to legal experts.

Defense lawyer Khin Maung Zaw said both reporters would be called to testify as witnesses at the next hearing.

Pan Ei Mon, wife of reporter Wa Lone attends a news coference in Yangon, Myanmar, December 28, 2017. /VCG Photo

"Naturally, I'm not satisfied ... not happy," he said. "But I'm not losing hope. In the end we will have a happy ending."

At the July 2 hearing, prosecutor Kyaw Min Aung said documents the reporters had in their hands when they were arrested detailed the movements of security forces, while further documents found on their mobile phones ranged from confidential to top secret.

At the time of their arrest in December, the reporters had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in western Myanmar's Rakhine State.

The reporters have told relatives they were arrested almost immediately after being handed some rolled up papers at a restaurant in northern Yangon by two policemen they had not met before.

Source(s): Reuters