Thai trial over British backpacker murders to resume in July

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/26/thai-trial-british-backpacker-murders

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Testimony in the trial of two Burmese migrants accused of the murder of two British tourists on a Thai holiday island has been scheduled for July.

Zaw Lin and Win Phyo, both 21, were arrested in October, three weeks after the bodies of David Miller, 24, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, were found on a beach on Koh Tao.

Witheridge was raped and suffered terrible head injuries on the night of 15 September. Her body was found near that of Miller, who had been struck on the head and left to drown in shallow surf.

On Friday at a court on the neighbouring island of Koh Samui, prosecutors and defence lawyers submitted their plans for evidence and witnesses. The judge set a date of 8 July for the trial to resume with testimony from prosecution witnesses.

Relatives of the defendants were in court for the hearing, at which the two accused again asserted their innocence.

Police initially said the two men had confessed, but the men later said they had been tortured to extract false confessions. Police have said the suspects’ DNA samples matched those found on the victims.