Myanmar junta rejects involvement in plot to kill ambassador to UN
Bangkok Desk, Aug 10 (EFE).- Myanmar’s military junta has rejected accusations of its involvement in a plot to injure or kill the country’s ambassador to the United Nations, who opposes the Feb. 1 coup.
The US authorities announced on Friday the arrest in New York of two Myanmar citizens accused of plotting an attack on envoy Kyaw Moe Tun.
The foreign ministry said Tuesday that “Myanmar has nothing to do with this incident” and that it is a domestic matter for the United States.
In a statement published on Tuesday by state media, the military junta added that Kyaw Moe Tun was expelled from the diplomatic corps at the end of February after expressing his opposition to the coup and an arrest warrant has been issued against him for committing “high treason,” for which his extradition has been requested from the US.
Kyaw Moe Tun, appointed ambassador to the UN by the deposed government of Aung San Suu Kyi, has continued to defend himself as the legitimate representative of Myanmar and continues to be recognized by the body.
The Manhattan Federal Prosecutor’s Office said on Friday that one of the men had in July agreed with an arms dealer in Thailand “who sells weapons to the Burmese military” to “hire attackers to injure or [if he did not step down from his post,] kill the ambassador.”
The other man transferred advance payments for the plot.
The two individuals were charged with “conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon a foreign official,” which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, in an attack they planned to carry out on US soil, according to prosecutor Audrey Strauss.
More than six months after the coup, the military junta has not managed to gain support in Myanmar as protests and indefinite strikes continue, crippling the administration and part of the private sector.
At least 962 people have died in security forces crackdowns, while more than 7,000 opponents of the regime have been arbitrarily arrested, according to the latest data from the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners. EFE
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