US embassy official meets detained citizen, lawyers appointed

by Mungpi
Wednesday, 07 October 2009 18:05

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The consul officer of the United States embassy met detained citizen Kyaw Zaw Lwin in Rangoon’s Insein prison on Sunday, and appointed two lawyers to take up his case.

The embassy’s Assistant Public Relation Officer, Drake Weisert on Wednesday told Mizzima, that “An embassy consular officer met Kyaw Zaw Lwin a second time on Sunday, October 4 in Insein Prison.”

Drake also said advocates Kyi Win and Nyan Win, have been appointed as attorneys to defend Kyaw Zaw Lwin (alias) Nyi Nyi Aung, arrested and detained on September 3 on his arrival at the Rangoon International Airport from Thailand.

Nyan Win and Kyi Win, advocates of the Supreme Court, also teamed up to defend the Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was charged for violating her terms of detention and sentenced on August to 18 months of a suspended sentence.

US embassy officials, however, did not say whether Nyi Nyi Aung has been officially charged and did not talk about his health condition.

Earlier on Monday, Nyan Win, who is also handling the case of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said that he had taken up the case for the release of Nyi Nyi Aung from Insein prison.

Nyi Nyi Aung, who was a student activist involved in the 1988 student-led pro-democracy uprising, is a naturalised US citizen and is reportedly a resident of Maryland.

Sources said he had a valid US passport and a social visit Visa to Burma, when he flew into Rangoon on a TG flight on September 3.

But the government’s mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper accused him of collaborating with exiled opposition groups and linking up with underground activists inside Burma.

The newspaper also accused him of providing financial assistance to activists inside Burma to plant explosives and to instigate unrest.

Nyi Nyi Aung’s family members including his sister and mother are serving prison terms for their involvement in the ‘Saffron Revolution’, where monks led thousands of protesters on the streets of Rangoon in September 2007.

His sister, Thet Thet Aung (35), was sentenced to 65 years in prison, while his mother is serving a five-year prison term.