YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - The prosecution of two Myanmar journalists accused of violating a state secrets law by acquiring official documents given to them by police has suffered a setback after a police officer testified that he and his colleagues were ordered to entrap the reporters. At the time of their arrest, they had been working on a Reuters investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, during an army crackdown that United Nations agencies say has sent nearly 700,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh. For months now, a Yangon court has been hearing testimony to decide whether the Reuters journalists will go to trial even as global criticism of the case has rained down on Myanmar and prominent rights attorney Amal Clooney joined the legal team. “Police Brigadier General Tin Ko Ko gave the documents to Police Lance Corporal Naing Lin and told him to give them to Wa Lone and said that when Wa Lone comes out of the restaurant, the Htaunt Kyant regional police force has to entrap him and arrest him,” said Moe Yan Naing. REUTERS/Ann Wang

Moe Yan Naing gave details to the court of the hours leading up to the Dec. 12 arrest of Wa Lone, 32, and Reuters colleague Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, who had accompanied him to the meeting, and said the police had arranged a “set up”. Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay said in a text message response, in English, to Reuters questions: “It’s in the court process now, we already assured to get the cover of the independent judiciary.”

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who is part of the team representing the Reuters reporters, said in a statement the prosecution should now drop the case or the judge should dismiss it. “We are very surprised that the truth has been revealed, and we thought since the beginning that this case was set up,” said Than Zaw Aung, another lawyer for the reporters.
A Myanmar police captain testifies in court that he and his colleagues were ordered by their superiors to entrap two Reuters journalists, who were arrested on 12 December 2017 for "possessing state secrets" under a colonial-era law. The journalists had been working on a report documenting the massacre at Inn Din.