Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

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Bristolian
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

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http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asean/1 ... der-appeal
Defence team team hopeful in Koh Tao murder appeal

YANGON - Lawyers for two Myanmar nationals sentenced to death in Thailand for the murder of two British tourists on Koh Tao are optimistic about winning their appeal after the court refused the prosecution extra time to prepare.

The court announced that no further extensions will be granted to the prosecution, which has delayed the hearing of the appeal nine times since it was lodged in May this year, according to a Myanmar Times report.

Prosecutors have until Nov 10 to submit a reply to the defendants’ appeal. To date, they have not done so.

Ko Zaw Linn and Ko Wai Phyo were convicted and sentenced to death in December 2015 for the murder of David Miller and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge on Koh Tao, a popular tourist island.

At the time of their conviction, the defence lawyers said the judgement was “an extreme miscarriage of justice”, claiming the prosecution case was based on circumstantial evidence.

In May, the migrant workers’ lawyers lodged a 198-page appeal detailing 21 deficiencies in the prosecution case, including the incorrect admission of evidence and the failure of police to identify a potential suspect in CCTV footage who was referred to as the “running man”. Concerns over the veracity of DNA evidence used to convict the pair also plagued the case.

Aung Myo Thant, a legal adviser at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, said if the prosecution did not provide any reply to the appeal by the Nov 10 deadline, Ko Zaw Linn and Ko Wai Phyo would have a strong chance of a favourable outcome. The court would have to consider the points made in the appeal without any rebuttal from the prosecution.

“We don’t know how the court will decide, but the sentence may well be changed if the prosecutor does not make any reply to our appeal. Our appeal is strong and points out many weak points in the prosecution case that suggest that the crimes may not have been carried out by these two Myanmar migrant workers,” said Aung Myo Thant.

Sein Htay, chair of the Migrant Worker Rights Network, was similarly optimistic.

“If the prosecutor does not lodge a reply to the appeal, this could be a good sign for Zaw and Phyo,” he said.

Sein Htay said the two defendants were recently visited by a representative of his organisation at the prison where they are detained. Their mental health was reportedly strong and they hope to soon be released, he said.
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

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Appeals Court Upholds Death Penalty for Koh Tao Murders
http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crim ... o-murders/

KOH SAMUI — The Appeals Court on Wednesday announced its decision to uphold the death sentences for two migrant workers convicted of a brutal 2014 double homicide on Koh Tao.

In its ruling, made secretly on Feb. 23, the Koh Samui court said evidence presented by the state in the original trial was adequate and reliable, and therefore declined to overturn the December 2015 verdict condemning two Myanmar men to die for the deaths of two British tourists.

The ruling was came as a surprise to defense lawyers, who said they had no knowledge the court made a ruling last week, which it apparently relayed to their clients without notification.

“We will definitely petition the Supreme Court,” defense lawyer Nakhon Chompuchart said Wednesday afternoon, adding that he could not comment further because he had not yet seen the decision.

Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, migrant workers on the island, were convicted of the September 2014 murders of David Miller and Hannah Witheridge largely on the basis of DNA traces police said were recovered from the crime scene and Witheridge’s body. No other physical evidence or witness testimony linked them to the crime.

The defense was never allowed to independently test the evidence on its own, and cast doubt on the integrity of the police investigation. The trail came after an investigation widely criticized for unprofessional bungling, and accusations that desperate investigators arrested two men on the margins of society for use as scapegoats.

The two are being held at the Bang Kwang Central Prison in Bangkok and were not in court today.
Unlike the lower court, no witnesses were called during the appeals process; instead, the court simply “reinterpreted” evidence and testimony already entered into the record during trial.

The appeal filed in May by the defense team said the prosecution lacked hard evidence implicating Zaw and Wai, such as documents or photographs. Moreso, it said police collected evidence unlawfully and not in line with international standards.

Police have denied mishandling the evidence and rejected accusations that torture was used to extract confessions in the case.
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Why did they need to hold the appeal in secret and without even informing the defence lawyers?? Oh :idea: !!
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

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How low can you go?

Thai authorities: What ever it is we can go lower.
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

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I doubt that the verdict will ever change. The following quotation says it all:
“Wrongful convictions and scapegoating are common place in this part of the world” said one supporter, who asked to remain anonymous, “perhaps the Millers are unaware this is not the UK and you cannot trust the verdict of the courts, this is a 3rd world country where mistakes are made far more often than in the west. Corruption is rife here” she went on to say “I am not sure which trial they were listening carefully too, but I was present during the Koh Tao murder trial and I was far more confused when I left on the last day than I was went I went in on day one”.
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

Post by oakdale160 »

In "Common LaW" the law on which law in Commonwealth countries and the USA an appeal is not an appeal on the facts or the interpretation of the facts but on the judicial procedure. Whether all the rules of jurisprudence were followed, were the judges decsisions correct etc etc. One cannot imagine a Thai Appeal court being able to distance itself and judge its own procedures and judge its judges.
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

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Supreme Court upholds death sentences for 2014 Koh Tao murders

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... ao-murders


The Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences passed by the Criminal and Appeal courts for two Myanmar nationals convicted of the September 2014 murder of two British backpackers on Koh Tao.

The highest court on Thursday passed final judgement on Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, ruling that all the evidence, including DNA samples and witness statements, proved their crime. The court rejected the argument that police had fabricated evidence and arrested them as scapegoats.

The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence confirmed last year by the Appeal Court, which upheld the Samui Provincial Court's ruling in 2015.

Lawyers for the two defendants argued against the reliability of forensic evidence and the legality of the investigation process.

Chief defence counsel Nakhon Chompuchat said after the ruling of the Appeal Court last year that they would argue before the Supreme Court that the forensic procedures and autopsy results which confirmed DNA from the two men matched samples collected from Witheridge’s body were unreliable.

The pair have been held at Bang Kwang Prison in Nonthaburi since their conviction. They were taken to Nonthaburi Provincial Court, which is near the prison, to hear the final ruling on Thursday. It was read out at the Criminal Court and broadcast inside the court in Nonthaburi.

Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun were sentenced for the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, and the murder of David Miller, 24, on Koh Tao island, in the Gulf of Thailand off the Surat Thani mainland, on Sept 15, 2014.

They were also convicted of the theft of an iPhone from one of the victims. The mobile phone was found discarded near a hotel on the island by police and used as evidence against them.
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

Post by europtimiste »

Thai justice system.
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

Post by laphanphon »

One can only hope for a Royal commutation of the death sentence, then returned to Myanmar to finish (life) sentence, if lucky, but half of that has to be served here.

Very sad situation for those 2.
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

Post by europtimiste »

laphanphon wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2019 4:31 pm One can only hope for a Royal commutation of the death sentence, then returned to Myanmar to finish (life) sentence, if lucky, but half of that has to be served here.

Very sad situation for those 2.
If there is an agreement between 2 countries. If yes it's minimum 8 years in Thailand.
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

Post by stretch »

whats the thai word for bxxllxxs
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

Post by europtimiste »

stretch wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2019 5:11 pm whats the thai word for bxxllxxs
What this means ???????
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

Post by stretch »

Can be used to describe many things in this case BUxxShXX
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

Post by sateeb »

couilles....connerie for the benefit of the French speakers
“Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

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“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” -George Orwell.
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Re: Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

Post by europtimiste »

sateeb wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2019 5:56 pm couilles....connerie for the benefit of the French speakers
Sounds better.
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