"Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters reporters who had been sentenced to seven years imprisonment for violating the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, were freed by pardon today (May 7) after spending more than 500 days behind bars. Their prolonged detention on what rights advocates and journalist groups widely viewed as trumped-up charges has been a dark mark on Myanmar’s transition to a form of quasi-democracy after decades of repressive direct military rule. But Myanmar’s media is still far from free and the country’s transition to democracy still far from complete with their pardons. The two reporters were among thousands of other prisoners who were granted amnesty by president Win Myint after Myanmar New Year, which falls in mid-April. But Wa Lone’s and Kyaw Soe Oo’s case was different from all the others. They were arrested in December 2017 while investigating the killing by security forces of 10 Muslim Rohingya men and boys, reporting that won them a Pulitzer Prize in April this year..."