Myanmar pledges efforts to keep anti-verdict protests under control
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Thailand reassures neighbour Thai Koh Tao murder sentences can be appealed.
MYANMAR’S foreign minister has assured his Thai counterpart that he will do his best to rein in his compatriots’ anger over the death sentences given to two Myanmar migrants involved in the Koh Tao murder case.
“I have already spoken to Myanmar’s foreign minister, who has expressed understanding about the Thai judicial process and realised that this recent court verdict is not a final one,” Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said yesterday.
He added that he had told his counterpart that Myanmar could provide legal advisers to the defendants.
Last Thursday, the Samui Provincial Court convicted the two Myanmar men of killing two Britons on Koh Tao in 2014 and sentenced them to death. Since the verdict was delivered, thousands of Myanmar people have been staging rallies in their country.
“I hope this situation doesn’t lead to violence, because it will do no good to Thailand or Myanmar,” Don said.
Asked whether protests in Myanmar were organised, Don said he could only hope that nobody had tried to manipulate the situation and caused it to get out of hand. However, he said, it was rather unusual to see the protests spread to several areas.
Yesterday, about 100 people gathered in Koh Song on the Myanmar side of the border to protest against the court ruling.
General Thawip Netniyom, secretary-general of the National Security Council, said he didn’t understand why people were protesting against the Koh Tao case in Myanmar, adding that his agency was trying to find out if someone had purposely organised the rallies.
Thawip also pointed out that the judicial process was running its course and the defendants could take the case to the Court of Appeals and then to the Supreme Court if they were not satisfied.
“I don’t see any need to stage protests now,” he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said Myanmar authorities were not pressuring the government, and had simply asked authorities to take care of the case.
“Court verdicts are based on evidence,” he said.
