The first civilian to testify in the case of two Reuters reporters accused of violating Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act contradicted police and prosecutors on Wednesday about where the pair were arrested, a defense lawyer said.
Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were detained on Dec. 12 for allegedly possessing confidential documents, after they had been invited to meet police officers over dinner in the northern outskirts of Yangon.
Win Lwin Oo, 50, a neighborhood chief from another part of north Yangon, was the latest prosecution witness to give evidence in proceedings to decide whether they should be charged under the colonial-era law
He said he was accompanying police as they conducted traffic searches and witnessed the reporters’ detention.
The exact location of the arrests has emerged as a point of contention in the proceedings.
The reporters have told relatives they were arrested almost immediately after being handed some papers at the Saung Yeik Mon restaurant by two police officers they had not met before.
The prosecution and earlier police witnesses have testified the journalists were arrested after they were stopped and searched at a checkpoint at the junction of No. 3 Main Road and Nilar Road, several hundred metres from the restaurant, by officers who were unaware they were journalists. The prosecution has made no reference to a meeting with police prior to their detention.
“We kept arguing about it and during the examination today the witness Win Lwin Oo said it is not No.3 road but Sin Gyi restaurant, which is beside Saung Yeik Mon,” defense lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told reporters after the hearing.
Prosecutor Kyaw Min Aung declined to answer questions from reporters. Government spokespeople have routinely declined to comment on the details of the case, citing the ongoing court proceedings.
Earlier on Wednesday, police corporal Kyaw Lwin gave evidence about a discrepancy in police paperwork. He said Kyaw Soe Oo’s arrest was recorded as taking place in front of Saung Yeik Mon because the journalist had otherwise refused to sign the form, but like the other police insisted they were arrested at the checkpoint.
