The executions announced on Monday sparked widespread condemnation
The four political prisoners executed by Myanmar's junta in the country's first cases of capital punishment in decades "deserved many death sentences", a military spokesman said on Tuesday.
"If we compare their sentence with other death penalty cases, they have committed crimes for which they should have been given death sentences many times," Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the military government, said at a regular press briefing.
The executions announced on Monday sparked widespread condemnation, heightened fears that more will follow and prompted calls for the international community to take sterner measures against the already-isolated junta.
The death penalty was given by the court after the defendants "were given the right to defend themselves according to court procedure," Zaw Min Tun said.
"They harmed many innocent people. There were many big losses which could not be replaced."
The prisoners, who included a former lawmaker from ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party, had been allowed to meet family members through video conferencing, he said, without providing details.
The junta had previously rejected criticism from the United Nations and western countries over the death sentences as "irresponsible and reckless".
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