Reuters journalist takes stand as Myanmar trial begins

YANGON: One of two Reuters journalists charged in Myanmar with breaking a state secrets law while reporting on the Rohingya crisis protested his innocence on Monday on the first day of a trial that has provoked global condemnation.

Myanmar nationals Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were arrested in December and accused of possessing documents linked to security operations against Rohingya militants in Rakhine state.

More than 700,000 of the stateless Muslim minority have fled the western state in response to a campaign that the US and UN have described as ethnic cleansing. The reporters have spent seven months behind bars during pre-trial hearings but were informed last week that the case would go ahead. If convicted, they face up to 14 years in jail.

Wa Lone, the first to testify, told the court that he had followed standard reporting procedures and not broken any laws. At the time of their arrest the journalists had been investigating the massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine a week after militants attacked police posts on August 25, triggering a brutal response from police and troops.