Thein Than Oo, one of the lawyers defending seven Muslims sentenced for murdering a Buddhist monk in Meiktila in March, said that the families of the defendants were launching an appeal against the verdict.
The lawyer said that the appeal was based on the fact that the defense witnesses produced during the trial were not eye-witnesses.
“The only thing my clients did was start yelling outside a mosque,” he said. “The only crime they may have committed is against Section 144 of the Penal Code [Offences against Public Tranquility]. They did not instigate murder nor did they murder [the Buddhist monk] U Thaw Bita themselves. The verdict was incorrect.”
One of the defendant’s family members, Thet Oo, said that further investigations will prove that no concrete evidence was produced in court at the trial.
“No evidence was demonstrated,” he said. “Those who committed the crime deserve to be punished—but not these innocent men.”
