Soldiers sentenced

Seven Burmese soldiers have been sentenced to “10 years in prison with hard labour in a remote area” for participating in a massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslim men in a village in Rakhine state last September, the army said. The men were buried in a mass grave after being hacked to death or shot by Buddhist neighbours and soldiers. The massacre was being investigated by two Reuters journalists — Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28 — who were subsequently arrested and are still behind bars facing charges of violating the country’s Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. A judge yesterday rejected a request for the case against the reporters to be dismissed.