[Their alleged scheme involved tampering with the foreign diplomat’s car tires so the vehicle would crash and was allegedly an effort to force the ambassador to resign or be killed, according to an account from an alleged participant cited in court papers filed in federal court in White Plains.]
Myanmar citizens Phyo Hein Htut,
28, and Ye Hein Zaw, 20, were arrested Thursday afternoon and charged in New
York with conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon a foreign
official, a charge that carries up to five years in prison.
Their alleged scheme involved
tampering with the foreign diplomat’s car tires so the vehicle would crash and
was allegedly an effort to force the ambassador to resign or be killed,
according to an account from an alleged participant cited in court papers filed
in federal court in White Plains.
While the Justice Department did
not name the special envoy in court filings, that post is held by Kyaw Moe Tun,
whose public denunciation of the coup helped fuel a protest movement opposed to
the junta.
Myanmar’s military leaders
responded to Tun’s speech by trying to oust him from his post in New York and
charging him with treason. But he continued to be recognized at the United
Nations and cast a vote on behalf of his
country in June in favor of a resolution condemning the military
takeover.
After the vote, Tun reemphasized
his desire for the United Nations and the international community to take the
“strongest and most decisive action against the military” that had seized power
from his country’s elected civilian government.
[Opinion:
Why the Biden administration should recognize Myanmar’s shadow government]
Tun said earlier this week that the
United States had increased his security because of a threat against him,
according to a Reuters report, which also detailed how Tun has been
painted as a traitor on state television in Myanmar.
In the charges announced Friday,
prosecutors did not accuse Myanmar’s military leadership of involvement in the
plot. But the scheme described in court papers involved a Thai weapons dealer
who sold arms to the military, whose rule in Myanmar the United States has not
recognized.
Htut allegedly accepted
$4,000 in two payments from the unnamed arms dealer in July, using the
money transfer app Zelle, for his role in the planned attack. Court papers say
he was supposed to hire someone to potentially kill Tun and was set to receive
another $1,000 after completing his part of the mission.
“Hi bro I just zelled you
2000 again,” the dealer allegedly wrote to Htut in a July 23 text message,
confirming the second installment.
Htut and Zaw agreed to be detained
on Friday at his first appearance in court in front of a federal magistrate
judge in Westchester County, where the ambassador resides. They may argue for
release on bond at a later date.
Lawyers for the suspects did not
immediately respond to a request for comment, and a spokesperson for the United
Nations could not be reached.
Tom Andrews, the U.N. special
rapporteur focused on human rights in Myanmar, responded to the arrests on
Twitter. “I’m horrified by news that a supplier of weapons to the Myanmar
military allegedly paid two Myanmar nationals to harm or kill UN Ambassador
Kyaw Moe Tun,” he wrote. “Who was behind this outrage and who will hold them
accountable?”
The military seized power in Myanmar on
Feb. 1, detaining Aung San Suu Kyi — the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize
laureate who had been reelected as her country’s leader in a landslide victory
in November — as well as her top ministers and advisers. It was Myanmar’s
second democratic election since the country’s fragile transition from military
rule to democracy.
Millions took to the streets to
protest the coup, and the military government has responded by detaining
thousands and killing more than 800, according to the Assistance Association
for Political Prisoners (Burma).
Suu Kyi, 75, is facing corruption and other
charges and has been held incommunicado.
