The two Myanmar nationals on death row for the savage 2014 murders of British backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller on the Thai island Koh Tao filed their last appeal yesterday.
This 300-page document, handed in to Supreme Court of Thailand, states that the forensic evidence, including DNA tests, used to convict migrant workers Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, both 22, was not carried out according to international forensic standards, reported the Bangkok Post.
Lawyer Nakhon Chompuchat, leader of the men’s defense team, submitted an initial appeal in March, but it was turned down by the Court of Appeals. The court ruled that the evidence was collected correctly and that the men had committed the rape of Witheridge and both murders “without a doubt” on September 15, 2014. The death sentence was upheld for both men.
Nakhon still maintains that problems ranging from custody of the DNA samples during the investigation to how the men were charged and interrogated prevailed. The lawyer also pointed out that a proper interpreter or legal representation was not provided early in the case for the two convicted young men.
In advance of yesterday’s appeal, Nakhon met officials from Myanmar to coordinate information and met his clients at Bang Kwang Central Prison to get their signatures on the final documents. He said that his clients still hope for justice.
Migrant rights groups have suggested at various points that the men were being railroaded, and the government of Myanmar protested the initial guilty verdict, saying at the time that the men were being “wrongly punished.”
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