Reuters Journalists Charged in Myanmar
Targeted for Exposing Massacre of Rohingya
A judge in Yangon formally charged two Reuters journalists on Monday for possessing confidential government documents in the latest blow to press freedom in Myanmar. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, detained for the past seven months during preliminary hearings, will now face trial for allegedly violating Myanmar’s colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years.
The judge decided to proceed to trial despite strong evidence for dismissal – witness accounts pointing to entrapment, indications of police misconduct in the investigation, and prosecution witnesses with contradicting testimonies.
The two journalists were detained in December after meeting with police officers who handed them papers in an apparent setup, since corroborated by several witnesses, including an officer who testified that the police were ordered to “trap” the journalists by planting “secret” documents on them.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/07/09/reuters-journalists-charged-myanmar