Thai PM says Myanmar not opposed to murder probe

Agencies,  Guardian News & Media/Bangkok Thailand’s prime minister said Myanmar raised no concerns about the arrest of two of its citizens accused in the murder of two Britons at a Thai resort island, local media reported yesterday.Prayuth Chan-ocha spoke following a report that Myanmar President Thein Sein had urged him to ensure a fair investigation. A defence lawyer also alleged that the two migrant workers had been tortured in police custody.The suspects reportedly said they were forced to confess to the September 15 murder of backpackers Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, on a Koh Tao beach.Prayuth visited neighbouring Myanmar on his first official overseas trip since becoming prime minister in August. He led a bloodless coup that overthrew the previous government on May 24. The visit focused on bilateral economic co-operation, including the stalled Dawei deep-sea port joint project in Myanmar.Earlier, the president of Myanmar demanded that Thailand give a fair trial to migrant workers from his country accused of murdering two British backpackers, following allegations that the men’s confessions came after police beat them. “If they are guilty, action should be taken according to the law. However, the investigation needs to be clean and fair,” the Burmese president told Prayuth, a Burmese official told Agence France-Presse.  Prayuth had promised to give special consideration to the case, the official added.  To coincide with Prayuth’s visit a small crowd of Burmese demonstrators gathered in the country’s biggest city, Rangoon, to call for a fair trial for their compatriots, with the permission of local authorities. While Burma has seen some recent reforms, its own human rights record is viewed as one of the world’s worst. The president’s intervention follows widespread alarm from rights groups and others that the young Burmese suspects could have been made scapegoats for the killing of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller on Koh Tao, an island popular with young foreign holidaymakers, on September 15. According to police, Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, both 21, encountered the Britons on a beach and allegedly struck Miller, 24, on the head, leaving him to drown in the surf, before raping and killing 23-year-old Witheridge. The two suspects have said they were beaten by police and threatened with electrocution to secure their confessions. A Burmese embassy-appointed lawyer said later that they had now retracted the admissions. Others have questioned the veracity of forensic evidence supposedly linking the men to the murder scene, while Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation into the men’s treatment. However, a senior policeman in the region has said the retraction of the confessions was not unexpected. “The suspects have every right under the law to retract their testimony,” Colonel Prachum Ruengthong, chief of police for Koh Pha Ngan island, whose jurisdiction takes in Koh Tao, was quoted as saying by Thailand’s Khaosod newspaper. “In many other cases, suspects also recant their confessions during trial. It’s normal.” The father of one of the suspects has asked to be allowed to see his son, saying he does not believe he is guilty. U Tun Tun Hteik told the Burmese Mizzima news agency he hoped for a fair trial for Win Zaw Htun, the Bangkok Post reported.  “I do not believe that my son would commit murder. I think he will be released if the investigation into this case is fair and systematic,” he said. Up to 4mn Burmese migrants work in Thailand, and groups representing them say it is not uncommon for them to be wrongly accused by police. There was particular pressure on officers to swiftly solve the Koh Tao murders for fear it might harm the country’s economically vital tourism industry. The country’s top police officer said that the case was being handled properly. “I want to stress that police have investigated this case based on the law, examined evidence in line with international standards, and are fully accountable,” Somyot Poompanmoung told reporters in Bangkok.