UK charges exiled Myanmar ambassador with trespassing at diplomatic residence

By Andrew MacAskill

LONDON (Reuters) - British police charged Myanmar's former ambassador to the United Kingdom 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 coup, and was later replaced by the junta's 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 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 junta, Reuters has previously reported.

Chris Gunness of rights group 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 UK 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 Britain, have not formally recognised the junta.

But in July 2021, Myanmar's junta 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.

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Alex Richardson)