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Myanmar Citizens Charged With Plot Against U.N. Ambassador

Myanmar Citizens Charged With Plot Against U.N. Ambassador

Two citizens of Myanmar were arrested in the U.S. and charged with conspiring to injure or kill their nation’s ambassador to the United Nations, federal prosecutors in New York said in a statement.

Phyo Hein Htut and Ye Hein Zaw are charged with plotting with a Thai arms dealer who sells weapons to Myanmar’s military government, which took over the country in a coup in February but is not recognized by the U.N. According to prosecutors, Phyo Hein Htut was to hire attackers to harm Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who was fired by coup leaders but continues to represent his country in the U.N.

Prosecutors said in court papers that the aim of the conspiracy was to use violence to convince Kyaw Moe Tun to resign. If he refused, the arms dealer, who is not named in the court papers, proposed that the hired attackers kill the ambassador.

Phyo Hein Htut, 28, and Ye Hein Zaw, 20, are each charged with conspiracy to assault and make an attack on a foreign official. If convicted, they face as much as five years in prison. The two men were expected to appear in federal court in White Plains, New York, on Friday.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.