BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Myanmar has sentenced a former British ambassador to the Southeast Asian nation to a year in prison for failing to register her residence, a diplomat who has been following her case said Friday.
Independent media in the military-controlled country and the website of BBC's Myanmar-language service also reported the court's action.
The diplomat said former envoy Vicky Bowman's husband, a Myanmar national, was also given a one-year sentence for the same offense. The diplomat insisted on not being identified because he was not authorized to release such information. Neither Myanmar’s military government nor the British embassy have publicly confirmed the court’s action.
The couple were arrested on Aug. 24, the military government announced last week. It said Bowman, who served as the British envoy in 2002-2006, was detained for failing to inform the authorities last year when she and her husband moved from their registered address in Yangon, the country’s biggest city, to Kalaw township in Shan state in east-central Myanmar.
It said she and her husband, Htein Lin, were charged under the Immigration Act and the Foreigners Registration Rules. It said Bowman, who has applied for a visa to do business in Myanmar, was charged with breaching visa rules because she did not comply with regulations governing foreigners.
Since 2013, Bowman has been heading the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business, which says its goals include the promotion of human rights through responsible business in Myanmar.
The charge against Bowman has been widely seen as a pretext for cracking down on her for views the government may have considered critical, although her business was operated as a consultancy and did not play a notably vocal role in public affairs.
Grant Peck, The Associated Press
