Myanmar Policeman Who Detailed Entrapment of Reuters Reporters Released from Jail

By Thu Thu Aung and Antoni Slodkowski

YANGON – A Myanmar policeman who testified in court last year about the entrapment of two Reuters reporters was released from prison on Friday after serving a year-long sentence for breaching police discipline.

During the trial of reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, Police Captain Moe Yan Naing detailed the events leading up to their arrest on December 12, 2017, revealing that officers had orchestrated a “set up” against them.

Following his testimony in April, Moe Yan Naing received his sentence for speaking to Wa Lone, in contravention of police conduct rules. Subsequently, his family was evicted from their police accommodations in Naypyitaw.

Criticizing the disciplinary law, Moe Yan Naing stated, “This police disciplinary law is one of the laws we must amend while we are marching on the path towards democracy. This law can cause police much suffering because it is outdated.”

He received his punishment “according to the police disciplinary act,” a police spokesman said, without further details. They also claimed that the eviction order was unrelated to Moe Yan Naing’s testimony.

When asked about those who ordered his arrest, Moe Yan Naing said he would seek solace in his Buddhist beliefs, expressing sympathy for the reporters who remain imprisoned.

Having served around nine months of his sentence—typical in Myanmar for good behavior—Moe Yan Naing was released from Insein prison, on the edges of Yangon.

In September, a Yangon court convicted Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, sentencing them to seven years each in prison. They had been investigating the killing of ten Rohingya men and boys during a military crackdown that resulted in a mass exodus of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh.

Moe Yan Naing testified that a senior officer had instructed another officer to meet with Wa Lone in a restaurant and plant “secret documents” on him.

Last month, an appellate court rejected appeals from Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, stating the defense had failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove their innocence.