Bail denied for Reuters reporters

February 2, 2018

Yangon Northern District Court rejected yesterday the bail request of two Reuters Journalists accused of violating Official Secrets Act, even though their defence lawyer said information in documents at the centre of the case was publicly available.

Lawyer Than Zaw Aung said a police witness had accepted during court proceedings that details in documents found in the possession of the reporters when they were arrested had already been published in newspaper reports.

Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were detained on 12 December 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.

Police Major Min Thant, who said he led the team of arresting officers, yesterday submitted what he said were secret documents seized from the two reporters to the district court in Yangon.

Police have previously said the documents contained information on the disposition and operations of security forces in Rakhine’s Maungtaw District.

In response, defence attorney Than Zaw Aung submitted copies of several newspaper articles that he said showed the information in the documents was already in the public domain.

“After August 25, the government explained to the media and diplomats about what happened in Maungtaw,” Than Zaw Aung said. He said afterwards that Major Min Thant had acknowledged that when cross-examined.

“The witness admitted that the content of the documents they obtained from them is the information that the public already knew. He said the contents are same,” Than Zaw Aung told Reuters.

At the end of the day’s proceedings, the court rejected the defence’s application for bail. Reading from the Official Secrets Act, Judge Ye Lwin said the alleged offence was “non-bailable”, without elaborating further.

Deputy District Judge Daw Su Sandar Win, in her capacity as information officer, confirmed to reporters that the court rejected the bail request. The next hearing for the case will be to be on next Tuesday.

Out of 25 witnesses, two have so far been presented. The remaining witnesses will testify in court in subsequent hearings, she added. Relatives of the two reporters were distraught after the decision was announced.

“I cleaned my house with the hope that he might get bail, just in case,” Pan Ei Mon, Wa Lone’s wife, said, sobbing. “I knew that he wouldn’t get bail but still I cannot handle this.”

Kyaw Soe Oo’s wife, Chit Su Win, held on to her husband in tears, kissing him as he was being taken back to prison. In the morning, the two journalists had been smiling and appeared in good spirits as they were brought handcuffed to the court from Insein Prison in Yangon. Wa Lone gave the “thumbs up” sign and Kyaw Soe Oo hugged his young daughter.

The courtroom was packed with reporters and diplomats from the US, British, Canadian, Norwegian, Swedish, French and Danish embassies as well as United Nations and European Union officials.

Under cross-examination, police witness Min Thant also said he had updated the paperwork recording Kyaw Soe Oo’s arrest and search to show he was detained outside the restaurant where the reporters say they had a meal with police officers.

Kyaw Soe Oo had refused to sign a form stating he was arrested at an intersection in northern Yangon where police say they had a checkpoint, the officer said.

The two journalists said afterwards that Min Thant was not among the officers who arrested them.

“We have never seen that police officer before,” Wa Lone told reporters outside the courtroom. “We were arrested by plainclothes police.”

In his testimony, Min Thant said he led the team that arrested the reporters and that he was in uniform at the time.

The court hearing is to determine whether Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo will face charges under the Official Secrets Act.

GNLM/ Reuters contributed to this report

Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar