Myanmar cop denies planting documents
A Myanmar policeman told a court on Wednesday he met two Reuters reporters on the night of their arrest in December, but denied giving them secret documents to incriminate them.
His testimony contradicted a previous witness who last week said police had "set up" the pair.
"During my meeting with Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, I didn't take anything from them and I didn't give anything to them," Police Lance Corporal Naing Lin told Judge Ye Lwin, overseeing the hearing at a court in Yangon.
"I went and met with Wa Lone because he called me and requested a meeting. I didn't call Wa Lone and ask him to come meet me," said Naing Lin, who said he met the Reuters reporters over dinner and was not accompanied by any other policeman.
A previous witness, Police Captain Moe Yan Naing, has told the court a police chief ordered Naing Lin and another policeman to give "secret" documents to Wa Lone in an operation to entrap him.
The court in Yangon has been holding hearings since January to decide whether Wa Lone 32, and his Reuters colleague Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, will be charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison, for allegedly obtaining confidential documents.
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