YANGON (Reuters) -
Two Reuters journalists accused of violating Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act
appeared in court on Tuesday, with prosecutors due to present more witnesses to
determine whether they should be charged under the colonial-era law.
Wa Lone, 31, and
Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were in handcuffs as they were brought to the Insein district
court in Yangon, where dozens of reporters and diplomats were present to
witness the proceedings.
The two journalists
had worked on Reuters coverage of a crisis in Rakhine state, where an army
crackdown on insurgents since the end of August has triggered the flight of
688,000 Rohingya Muslims, according to the United Nations.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe
Oo were detained on Dec. 12 after they had been invited to meet police officers
over dinner in Yangon. They have told relatives they were arrested almost
immediately after being handed some documents at a restaurant by two officers
they had not met before.
At the last court
hearing on Thursday, prosecution witness Police Major Min Thant agreed during
cross-examination by the defense that the information in documents that Wa Lone
and Kyaw Soe Oo were holding in their hands at the time of their arrest had
already been published in newspaper reports.
The Danish Embassy
in Myanmar said in a statement on Tuesday calling for the immediate release of
the journalists that the documents “contain information which is already in the
public domain and therefore apparently not so secret”.
The two reporters,
whose application for bail was declined at the last hearing, have now been in
detention for eight weeks, first in police custody and then in Yangon’s
notorious Insein prison.
Reuters President
and Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler expressed disappointment at the decision
on the bail application and called for the journalists’ prompt release.
“They should have
the opportunity to be with their families as the hearings continue,” Adler said
in a statement. “We believe the court proceedings will demonstrate their
innocence and Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo will be able to return to their jobs
reporting on events in Myanmar.”
The Official Secrets
Act dates back to 1923 - when Myanmar, then known as Burma, was under British
rule - and carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
The two journalists
have been accused under Section 3.1 (c) of the act, which covers entering
prohibited places, and taking images or obtaining secret official documents
that “might be or is intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an
enemy”.
Government officials
from some of the world’s major nations, including the United States, Britain
and Canada, as well as top U.N. officials, have called for the reporters to be
freed.