A Thai woman who police said was arrested over the death of a US diplomat in Myanmar was remanded in custody by a court on Thursday, a legal official told AFP.
The US diplomat was discovered at the Sakura Residence hotel and serviced apartment complex in Yangon on May 11 according to a police source, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to discuss the case.
The 43-year-old man was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital with head and neck lacerations.
“A Thai woman who was found at his room at the Sakura Residence in Yangon was arrested,” the source said.
The case was being treated as a potential homicide, he added.
A legal official at Kamayut Township Court in Yangon confirmed the woman appeared for a hearing on Thursday.
“She was remanded at court today,” the official said, also speaking anonymously.
Details of the charges against the woman were not immediately available.
Myanmar’s court system has grown increasingly opaque since the 2021 military coup, with press access extremely limited.
A recorded US embassy memorial service shared online described the deceased diplomat as a “regional security officer” from New York state with extensive previous foreign postings. “We can confirm the death of a US government employee assigned to US Embassy Rangoon,” a US State Department spokesperson said, without providing additional details. Yangon was known as Rangoon during its colonial era.
“Out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones, we have no further information to provide at this time.”
Foreign enclave
Located in the upmarket Golden Valley neighbourhood of Yangon, the mid-rise Sakura Residence is a short distance from the US embassy and popular with diplomats, United Nations staff, aid workers and foreign businesspeople.
Hotel staff, reached via telephone, declined to comment and the local police station did not respond to requests for comment.
The Thai embassy in Yangon did not respond to a request for comment, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was monitoring the case.
“This is currently a matter of consular assistance and an ongoing police investigation being handled through the relevant official channels,” a spokesperson said, declining to comment further.
Myanmar has been in political and economic turmoil since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021, arresting Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her government.
The takeover triggered widespread protests, sparking a civil war that has pitted the military against a coalition of pro-democracy armed resistance forces and long-established ethnic minority armies.
In early April, former junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as the country’s president, following a widely criticised, military-engineered election.
