Amyotha Hluttaw Speaker U Khin Aung Myint has offered to act as personal guarantor in the case of the two Myanmar men accused of murder in Thailand.

The speaker said on November 26 he would stand surety for Ko Zaw Lin and Ko Win Zaw Htun, the Myanmar migrant workers accused of killing two British tourists in Thailand’s Koh Tao Island on September 15.

The speaker said he had called on Thai junta leader Prayut Chan-o-cha to transfer the two to the supervision of Myanmar’s embassy in Bangkok, releasing them from Thai custody. “If they run away, I will accept to be arrested,” he told the media.

The two men have recanted their original confession, alleging it had been extracted under torture.

The Myanmar embassy applied for bail on November 26 and agreed to provide the surety, but the Koh Samui District Court rejected the application.

Meanwhile, U Khin Aung Myint has provided K10 million on behalf of the hluttaw to assist the men, while hluttaw representatives U Khin Shwe and U Nay Win Tun have given K10 million each. A Rakhine social network has also donated about K 15 million towards the defence.

U Khin Aung Myint went to Thailand on November 23 together with legal experts and other hluttaw representatives to negotiate on behalf of the accused, and met Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on November 25.

On November 20, the Koh Samui court allowed Thai police to continue to hold the two men, remanding them in custody for a fifth time. Under Thai laws, a suspect can be remanded seven times, for a total of 84 days. The suspects had asked the court to deny the application but a judge upheld the police request.

“The Thai police said that they have not completed their investigation yet,” said U Aung Myo Thant, a lawyer involved in the case.

“We objected to remanding them again because they have been held for nearly 50 days but the court allowed it.”

Speaker seeks bail for Koh Tao accused