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.
A Myanmar court has charged two Reuters reporters with breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. They face up to 14 years in prison if convicted.
Two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, have been detained in Myanmar since Dec. 12, 2017. At the time of their arrests, they had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in Rakhine state.
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.
The European Union on Monday called on Myanmar to drop charges against two Reuters reporters after a court charged them with obtaining secret state documents.
The European Union on Monday called on Myanmar to drop charges against two Reuters reporters after a court charged them with obtaining secret state documents.
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.
A Myanmar court will rule on Monday on whether to charge two Reuters reporters accused of obtaining secret documents, a decision that could either see them freed after nearly seven months in jail or move the landmark press freedom case to trial.
Two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, have been detained in Myanmar since Dec. 12, 2017. At the time of their arrests, they had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in Rakhine state.
A Myanmar court will rule next week on whether to charge two Reuters reporters accused of obtaining secret documents, after prosecutors and defense lawyers delivered final arguments on Monday in the pre-trial phase of the landmark case.
The petition for dismissal explains that there is no basis to charge Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo under the Official Secrets Act. To charge them, the court would have to find evidence that the reporters collected secret government papers to aid an enemy of and harm Myanmar. None of these necessary evidentiary showings are present here. The papers are not secret, the prosecutor has not identified an “enemy” or provided any proof that the journalists were collaborating with an enemy, and at all times they were acting as journalists, not adversaries of their country.
A police witness in the case against two Reuters reporters accused of possessing state secrets in Myanmar is "unreliable," the reporters' lawyer said on Monday, because he obtained testimony from previous witnesses, in violation of police code.
A Myanmar police investigator failed to show up at court on Tuesday to testify as a prosecution witness against two Reuters reporters who were arrested in December and accused of possessing secret government papers.
Two Reuters reporters accused in Myanmar of possessing secret documents were subjected to sleep deprivation and asked if they were "spies" during police interrogations, their lawyers suggested during questions posed to a police witness on Monday.
Documents Myanmar police say they found on the mobile phones of two Reuters reporters accused of possessing state secrets were not confidential, defense lawyers said on Tuesday, because the information was publicly available before they were arrested.
Data that could support the defense of two Reuters reporters accused of possessing secret documents in Myanmar was missing from police phone evidence submitted to a court by prosecutors, their lawyers said on Monday.
Evidence Myanmar police say they obtained from the mobile phones of two Reuters reporters accused of possessing secret documents might be "tainted", a defense lawyer said on Tuesday, because at least one phone was used after it was confiscated.
Police in Myanmar examined the mobile phones of two Reuters reporters accused of possessing secret documents without a search warrant after their arrests in December, an officer told a court on Monday, in what has become a landmark press freedom case.
A Myanmar judge on Tuesday allowed the submission of evidence police say they obtained from the mobile phones of two Reuters reporters arrested in December for alleged possession of secret documents, in what has become a landmark press freedom case.
A Myanmar judge will rule on Tuesday whether to allow the submission of evidence police say they obtained from the mobile phones of two Reuters reporters arrested in December for alleged possession of secret documents.