YANGON: Foreign and local journalists jailed for flying a drone near Myanmar's parliament could be released from prison in early January after police dropped additional charges that carried at least three more years behind bars, their lawyers said Tuesday, reports AFP.
Lau Hon Meng from Singapore and Mok Choy Lin from Malaysia, who were on assignment for Turkish state broadcaster TRT, were detained late October along with Myanmar journalist Aung Naing Soe and driver Hla Tin while shooting a documentary in the capital Naypyidaw.
Expecting to receive a fine, they confessed to flying the drone but were instead sentenced to two months in jail under Myanmar's aircraft act.
They faced an additional three years after being accused of violating Myanmar's import-export law, while the two foreign journalists were also charged with immigration offences that carried a maximum five-year prison term.
But police dropped those extra charges "as the defendants didn't compromise state security", defence lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told AFP on Tuesday.