Final arguments in Unity case next week
By Ye Mon | Friday, 20 June 2014A verdict in the trial of five Unity journal staff could come next month, according to a lawyer in the case, after closing arguments from both sides are made in a hearing scheduled for June 30.
The latest session saw two prominent media industry figures appear for the defence and recommend light sentences if the five are convicted.
Unity chief executive officer U Tin San and reporters Lu Maw Naing, Yazar Oo, Sithu Soe and Paing Thtet Kyaw were arrested on February 1 for allegedly breaching the 1923 Burma State Secrets Act. In its January 23 and January 30 issues the journal had published a series of investigative reports alleging that the military had seized more than 3000 acres of farmland in Pauk township, Magwe Region, and built a chemical weapons factory there.
Defence lawyer Robert Sann Aung said that when both sides had presented their closing arguments, the case would be decided at the next hearing.
On June 18, veteran journalist Pho Thauk Kyar and Dr Than Htut Aung, the CEO of Eleven Media Group, testified for the defence.
Ma Lwin Lwin Myint, the wife of one of the defendants, told The Myanmar Times that U Pho Thauk Kyar had told the court that in 1961 he had faced charges under the secrets act. At that time, Prime Minister U Nu had agreed to drop the case after an intervention by the Myanmar Journalists Association.
In his testimony at the Unity trial, U Pho Thauk Kyar urged the judge to consider imposing only light sentences in the event that the court decided a breach of the law had taken place.
U Than Htut Aung, chief executive officer of Eleven Media Group, asked the court to bear in mind the inexperience of the journalists, since Unity was a relatively new publication.
Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2014/06/22/final-arguments-in-unity-case-next-week/
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