Two Reuters journalists accused of illegally obtaining information while covering the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar will face trial.

Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, have been charged with breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act.

They were arrested and jailed late last year. Reuters has called for their release and says they were doing their jobs reporting on a massacre, reports the BBC.

The men face up to 14 years in jail if found guilty. They deny the charges.

The crisis in mainly Buddhist Myanmar's north-western Rakhine state hit global headlines late last year when hundreds of thousands of Muslims fled a deadly military crackdown.

The military says the operation was targeting Rohingya militants in Rakhine, but rights groups say thousands of civilians have been killed.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were investigating the mass execution last year of Rohingya Muslims by soldiers and villagers. Reuters says this lies behind the arrest of the two journalists.

Defence lawyers had asked for the case to be thrown out for lack of evidence, but the judge decided there were sufficient grounds the men had collected evidence from state officials for the case to proceed to trial.

The pair have been in custody while pre-trial hearings have taken place.

"We have the right to a defence. The court did not decide we are guilty," Wa Lone said after Monday's ruling in Yangon.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested on 12 December after meeting police and receiving documents from them.

Authorities say they were "arrested for possessing important and secret government documents related to Rakhine state and security forces" and that the information had been "illegally acquired with the intention to share it with foreign media".

BDST: 1800 HRS, JULY 9, 2018
AP