EXCLUSIVE: British police investigate former Myanmar envoy exiled for trespassing

Aug 18 (Reuters) – British police are investigating the former Myanmar ambassador to the UK for trespassing at a London diplomatic residence he has refused to leave since he was ousted for opposing Myanmar’s 2021 military coup, they said his lawyer told Reuters.

Kyaw Zwar Minn was ousted from his embassy a few months after the February 2021 coup and later replaced by junta representatives after calling for the release of Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Since his protest, praised by the British government at the time, Kyaw Zwar Minn has been staying at the ambassador’s residence in northwest London, a mansion surrounded by barbed wire and CCTV cameras. He has refused to return it to the embassy, ​​which he says is now run by representatives of an illegitimate government.

Britain last year urged Kyaw Zwar Minn to leave the residence, citing pressure from the junta, Reuters reported.

Earlier this week, Kyaw Zwar Minn was interviewed by police over “an allegation that he trespassed on diplomatic premises,” said Neil Swift, his lawyer at London-based Peters & Peters. The offense carries a penalty of up to six months in prison or a fine or both.

“The ambassador’s residence remains the property of the Union of Myanmar, and my client has always maintained that he is more than happy to hand over the keys to a representative of Myanmar’s democratically elected government, should he be asked.” Swift told Reuters.

Myanmar’s embassy in London, Britain’s Foreign Office and London’s Metropolitan Police did not respond to requests for comment.

Kyaw Zwar Minn was interviewed by police on August 15, but no charges have yet been filed, according to Swift. Britain’s attorney general will have to determine whether there is enough evidence to charge him, she said.

If charges are brought, the case risks becoming politically heated given Britain’s previous support for Kyaw Zwar Minn and the sanctions he has imposed on the junta since the coup and a bloody crackdown on opponents that has sparked a movement resistance fighting the military on multiple fronts.

Chris Gunness of the Myanmar Accountability Project human rights group said it was “inconceivable that the British authorities, who condemned the coup and imposed economic sanctions on the generals, would allow this move by an illegal junta.”

Britain is among several Western countries that have called for democracy to be restored to Myanmar and sanctioned members of the Myanmar military and some of its business interests.

Deposed Myanmar politicians who escaped arrest after the coup and other pro-democracy allies formed the National Unity Government (NUG), a parallel administration aligned with Suu Kyi.

Most democratic nations, including Britain, have not formally recognized either the NUG or the junta.

But in July 2021, the Myanmar junta fixed a new temporary head of its embassy in London, a move that did not require the consent of the British government under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

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