Intervention from king is last hope for Myanmar men on death row who say are innocent
Lawyers for two Myanmar men on death row in Thailand for the murders of two British tourists have started work on an appeal letter to the Thai king requesting clemency.
The two migrant workers were arrested in 2014 after David Miller, 24, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, were found dead on the popular tourist destination of Koh Tao.
Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, both 25, were also accused of raping Witheridge and sentenced to death in 2016.
Thailand’s Supreme Court last month upheld their convictions, meaning a pardon from the king is the pair’s last hope.
The men’s lawyers say they are innocent and that police extracted confessions from them using torture.
They have also pointed to what they say are inconsistencies in the DNA evidence used to convict them.
The Lawyers Council Of Thailand and the Burma Lawyers’ Council, which is based in Thailand, are working together to submit the appeal to the king before October 28.
One of the lawyers, Ratsada Manooratsada, told a press conference in Yangon Monday the groups hoped the men would be spared death.
“There’s a chance that the death sentence will be reduced to a prison sentence if we submit an appeal letter to the Thai king. There have been cases where the sentence was changed,” he said.
He added that although the Supreme Court verdict is final and cannot be appealed, a request to reinvestigate the case can be made if new evidence is submitted.
No such new evidence has yet emerged, however, the lawyers said.
“The court gave the ruling on the basis of a DNA match. But the lawyers didn’t agree,” Sunya Jongdee, another lawyer told Myanmar Now. “We showed at the court that the sperm in the condom found at the site of the incident did not match the sperm of the two boys.”
He added: “But the court didn’t accept it. We respect the court’s verdict but we don’t agree with it.”
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