BANGKOK, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Two Burmese men were found guilty and were sentenced to death on Thursday for killing two British tourists who were visiting Thailand.

Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, migrant workers from Myanmar working at a bar in Thailand, were convicted in the September 2014 killings of Hannah Witheridge, 23, who was also raped, and David Miller, 24. The victim's bodies were found on a Koh Tao island beach.

Lin and Phyo will appeal. They retracted their initial confessions, stating police tortured them. The investigation was criticized after several procedural failings were brought to light, such as how local police failed to seal off a crime scene and also failed to test Witheridge's clothes or the alleged murder weapon for DNA.

But prosecutors said DNA evidence collected from cigarette butts, a condom and the bodies of the victims pointed to Lin and Phyo as the perpetrators.

phuketrichard wrote:here is the info;

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 1450872256

and the complete case
http://thailandjustice.com/

The two Myanmar nationals claimed that during their interrogation police tortured them including by stripping, beating, kicking and threats of electric shocks to extract “confessions”. The presiding judge dismissed the allegations, stating that there was no evidence that torture took place, without providing any further information.

“Thai authorities must ensure that any alleged confession or other statement obtained as a result of torture is not admitted as evidence in court in any retrial of the case, unless against those accused of torture to prove that the statement has been taken. This requires an independent investigation, which the police should certainly not be in charge of,” said Champa Patel, Amnesty International Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

“The Thai police force has a long and disturbing track record of using torture and other forms of ill-treatment to extract ‘confessions’. This is far from an isolated case – the Thai authorities must start taking concrete steps to stamp out torture , not just paying lip service to doing so.

sigmoid wrote:Now the neighbours have got involved and aren't happy.


Myanmar army chief asks Thailand for death sentence review

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asi ... 79512.html

"General Min Aung Hlaing, head of the country's influential military, has asked Thailand for a "review of the evidence" against the two men."

The incompetence of the Thai authorities is boundless. They must have really thought that everyone would believe them. Unfortunately for them, their long history of botched investigations is well documented.