Myanmar Citizen Pleads Guilty on Plot to Attack Nation’s UN Envoy

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Myanmar citizen Ye Hein Zaw has pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to attack or assassinate his country’s ambassador to the United Nations, the US Justice Department said.

“Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today the guilty plea of Ye Hein Zaw, a citizen of Myanmar, for his role in a conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations,” the Justice Department said in a press release on Friday.

Zaw pleaded guilty today in White Plains federal court before US District Judge Philip Halpern, the release said.

During a recorded phone conversation, Zaw and a co-conspirator “discussed how the planned attackers would require an additional $1,000 to conduct the attack on the ambassador in Westchester County, and, for an additional payment, the attackers could …kill the ambassador,” the release added.

Zaw pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon a foreign official, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.  He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Halpern on May 10, 2022, according to the release.