US demands freedom from journalists in Myanmar

singapore - The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has urged Myanmar to release two journalists from the Reuters news agency immediately. Pompeo called for a meeting with his Burmese counterpart Kyaw Tin at a conference in Singapore, according to the US Department of State.

A spokesman for the Government of Myanmar said the case of reporters Wa Lone (32) and Kyaw Soe Oo (28) was handed over to the judge and that he must decide what happens to the journalists.

The reporters have been detained in Myanmar since December. At the time of their arrest they investigated the murder of ten members of the Rohingya minority in Rakhine. The two journalists are suspected of having obtained secret government documents. The duo can get a prison sentence of up to fourteen years.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo deny having committed criminal offenses.