Hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside Thailand’s embassy in Yangon Friday after two Myanmar migrants were sentenced to death by a Thai court for murdering two British backpackers, in a verdict that has sparked anger in their homeland.
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Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, both aged 22, were also found guilty of raping Miss Witheridge, whose lifeless body was found lying near Mr Miller’s on 15 September a year ago.
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After several days the Burmese men were arrested but there have been widespread concerns from human rights protestors who claimed they were tortured.
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The defence has disputedthe forensic evidence as flawed and accused the police of torturing their clients into signing confessions which they later retracted.
‘We believe that after a hard start the Royal Thai police conducted a methodical and thorough investigation.
Prosecutors said that DNA evidence linked them to the deaths.
“We believe the result today represents justice for David and Hannah”.
One of the defendants, Win Zaw Htun, also known as Wai Phyo, testified that he was tortured, beaten and threatened so he would confess. Both men later retracted their confessions, saying they had been coerced by the police.
The grim killings have sullied Thailand’s reputation as a tourist haven and raised questions over its justice system after the defence accused the police of bungling their investigation and using the men as scapegoats – a charge authorities deny.
In its own investigation of the case, the Thai National Human Rights Commission found the allegations of torture by the two Myanmar nationals to be credible.
A debate over DNA samples that police say link the two suspects to Witheridge’s body has been at the heart of the trial. “Initially they confessed for nearly two weeks and then recanted in an attempt to avoid justice”, Michael Miller, David’s brother, said in a statement read alongside his two parents.
Witheridge’s family, who did not travel to Thailand for the verdicts, said the past year had been an “unimaginably impossible time” and they would now be left to “digest the outcome of the trial”.
U Win Maung told reporters that he doesn’t expect the verdict to affect bilateral ties, and would continue following the case and offering consular services to the defendants – whose lawyer is planning to appeal Thursday’s verdict.
“David always stood up for justice and justice is what has been delivered today”, he added, endorsing the work of the Thai police and the reliability of the forensic evidence.
Miss Witheridge and Mr Miller met on Koh Tao while staying at the same hotel. He went on to say that the family had kept an open-mind throughout the trial and listened to the evidence.
“They are sure that on appeal, they will be freed and truth will be revealed”, he tweeted shortly after the verdict.
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Thailand has not carried out executions since 2009, and while the authorities have committed to moving towards abolition of capital punishment during 2015 the number of offences punishable by the death penalty has actually increased recently.
