British police charged Myanmar’s former ambassador to the U.K. with trespassing on a diplomatic residence in London that he has refused to leave since being ousted for opposing Myanmar’s 2021 military coup.
Kyaw Zwar Minn was locked out of his embassy a few months after the February 2021 military coup, and was later replaced by regime representatives, after calling for the release of Myanmar’s civilian leader, jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
Since his protest, praised by the British government at the time, Kyaw Zwar Minn has stayed at the northwest London ambassador’s residence, a mansion surrounded by razor wire and CCTV cameras. He has refused to hand it back to the embassy, which he says is now run by representatives of an illegitimate government.
London’s police said Kyaw Zwar Minn was charged last week with trespassing on a diplomatic premises. He must appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on May 30, the police said.
Kyaw Zwar Minn declined to comment.
Britain’s Foreign Office and Myanmar’s embassy in London did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Britain has urged Kyaw Zwar Minn to leave the residence, citing pressure from the regime in Naypyidaw, Reuters has previously reported.
Chris Gunness, founder of human rights group the Myanmar Accountability Project, urged Britain’s attorney general to intervene to stop the case.
“It is clearly not in our national interest to allow a junta which the U.K. has condemned and sanctioned to take over diplomatic property in London, not least because it undermines Britain’s policy of supporting democracy in Myanmar,” he said.
Britain is among several Western countries that have called for democracy to be restored in Myanmar and sanctioned members of Myanmar’s military and some of its business interests.
Most democratic nations, including the U.K., have not formally recognized the regime.
But in July 2021, Myanmar’s regime appointed a new temporary head of its London embassy, a move which did not require the consent of the British government under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
REUTERS
