Myanmar calls on Thailand to review verdicts on 2 Myanmar workers

Myanmar's Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing has called on Thailand to review verdicts concerning two Myanmar migrant workers who have been sentenced to death for murdering two British backpackers in southern Thailand last year.

Expressing his respect for Thailand's judicial process, Min Aung Hlaing, in his new year message on Saturday evening to Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister General Prawit Wongsuwon and Army Chief General Sommai Kaotira, stressed the need to avoid a situation in which the innocent "were wrongly punished."

He believed that "justice will be done under consideration of mutual respect and bilateral friendly relations between the two countries."

Meanwhile, a Thai diplomat in Yangon has promised Myanmar protestors that their demand for appeal to the Thai king would be conveyed as soon as possible following demonstrations here against the Thai court's death sentences.

Myanmar government has voiced rendering assistance to the accused by following an appeal process.

Hundreds of Myanmar people Friday gathered outside Thai Embassy here in protest against Thai court's verdicts.

An appeal will be made within a month, with coordination carried out with Lawyers' Council of Thailand, Myanmar Embassy in Thailand and Myanmar's civil society organizations in Thailand before Jan. 11. Enditem