A Reuters journalist charged with breaching a draconian secrecy law told a Myanmar court today he was entrapped by police while reporting with a colleague on a massacre of Rohingya, and had been abused in custody.
Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, and Wa Lone, 32, are charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act and face up to 14 years in jail for possessing classified documents relating to security operations in northern Rakhine state.
They were arrested last December after reporting on a military crackdown against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine which the UN has described as "textbook" ethnic cleansing.
The journalists had been investigating the extra-judicial killing of 10 Rohingya men in the village of Inn Din -- a massacre in which the military eventually admitted involvement.
Giving evidence after seven months of pre-trial hearings, Kyaw Soe Oo said he and Wa Lone were invited to dinner by two police officers and handed secret documents just before they were arrested.
"(Officer Naing Lin) gave us the documents. We didn't ask for any documents from him," he said today. "Five minutes later they went off, and as we left the restaurant we were arrested."
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content