September 3, 2018: A Myanmar judge on Monday found two Reuters journalists guilty of breaching a law on state secrets and sentenced them to seven years in prison, in a landmark case seen as a test of progress towards democracy in the Southern Asian country.Â
Yangon northern district judge Ye Lwin said Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28 breached the colonial-era Official Secrets Act when they collected and obtained confidential documents.Â
"The defendants... have breached Official Secrets Act Section 3.1.c, and are sentenced to seven years. Then time already served by the defendants from December 12 will be taken into consideration,"Â the judge said.Â
"We are extremely disappointed by this verdict", said Britain's ambassador to Myanmar Dan Chugg.Â
Press freedom advocates, the United Nations, the European Union and countries including the United States, Canada and Australia had called for the Reuters journalists' acquittal.Â
"Today is a sad day for Myanmar, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and the press everywhere," Reuters editor in chief Stephen J Adler said in a statement.Â
The reporters had told the court two police officials handed them papers at a north Yangon restaurant moments before other officers arrested them.Â
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