Myanmar Court Rules Reuters Reporters Can Face Full Trial

Reuters journalist Wa Lone, center, walks along with his wife Pan Ei Mon, second left, as he is escorted by police upon arrival at his trial Wednesday, April.11, 2018, Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Reuters journalist Wa Lone, center, walks along with his wife Pan Ei Mon, second left, as he is escorted by police upon arrival at his trial Wednesday, April.11, 2018, Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

YANGON — A judge in Myanmar has ruled that the prosecution of two Reuters journalists charged with illegally possessing official information can go to full trial.

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The judge made the ruling on Monday. The case of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo went through several months of hearings to determine if there was enough evidence to support the charges, which the reporters denied.

The two had been working on stories about the Rohingya crisis in western Myanmar, where state security forces are accused of carrying out massive human rights abuses that caused about 700,000 of the Muslim ethnic Rohingya to flee across the border to Bangladesh.

The charges against the reporters carry a punishment of up to 14 years in prison.

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