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Torture Claims From Thai Beach Murder Accused

Two Burmese migrant workers who allegedly murdered two British tourists have claimed Thai police and a translator kicked, punched and threatened them with death if they did not confess to the killings.

Zaw Lin and Wei Phyo have been giving evidence in the closing stages of their trial over the murders of Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, in Koh Tao in September last year.

The defendants are also accused of raping Ms Witheridge, and Thai police have denied their confessions were extracted by torture.

The two 22-year-old suspects, appearing separately in the dock, described in detail how they were allegedly forced to confess, claiming they feared for their lives if they did not, and were offered a deal by police - that they would only go to prison for five years.

Zaw Lin claimed he was struck hard in the chest while blindfolded leaving him with a painful injury.

Earlier in the trial, police officers denied physically harming the defendants, but Zaw Lin said he was given a balm by officers, to rub on his chest to reduce the bruising.

He also said he was punched by his police-appointed translator, claiming he was a Muslim from a persecuted minority in Myanmar, ethnically opposed to the accused.

"He asked me if I had been involved in the persecution in our home state and I said I hadn't. I was already working in Thailand when it started. Then he punched me," said Zaw Lin.

Zaw Lin claimed he was instructed by police to do whatever they told him to do, and the translator told him if he tried to tell anyone at the public re-enactment last year that he was not guilty he would be killed afterwards.

In earlier testimony Zaw Lin had told the court he thought the police officers were going to suffocate him as they repeatedly put plastic bags over his head and tightened them around his face and neck until he collapsed.

As the court session went on into the night, Wei Phyo said he was punched repeatedly for refusing to admit he was filmed on CCTV running away from the killings.

Wei Phyo told the trial: "The police asked if that was me in the picture and I said no. I was wearing a black top and long trousers that night, as seen in earlier CCTV footage, and the person they were pointing to wasn't me and was wearing white shorts.

"But when I denied it they punched me. They asked me again and again and I repeated again and again that it was not me on the CCTV but they punched me every time, until I had to confess to stop it."

The defence team brought in a British forensic expert to prove to the court that the man in the picture, whose face was unclear, was not Wei Phyo, after the prosecution insisted it was.

The prosecution insists DNA from the Myanmar migrant workers was found on Ms Witheridge's body. But the defence team has called many witnesses to discredit the DNA testing process, which was done exclusively by Thai police.

Thailand's Central Institute of Forensic Science re-examined the murder weapon, a hoe, and testified there was no DNA from the accused on it, but it did have DNA from the both victims and a third unidentified person.

However, in police and public re-enactments shown to the court, both suspects demonstrated how they held the handle of the hoe, with their bare hands.

The clothing Ms Witheridge was wearing when her body was found was not presented as evidence.

The trial has been a torturous process for the families of the victims, who have been forced to fly back and forth to Thailand to attend 21 days of testimony spread over four months. The pronouncement of the verdict could take another three months.