MGR Online — The Associated Press reports that a Thai woman accused of killing her ex-husband, a U.S. diplomat, has been sentenced to one year in prison for violating Myanmar's immigration law, but she may still face trial on a murder charge, according to her lawyer.
A court in Yangon's Kamayut Township found Ms. Pawinee Suphasiriwisan guilty under a provision that applies to all foreigners who commit offences in the country, her lawyer said. The charge carries a prison term of between six months and five years, and Pawinee is being held at Insein Prison.
Neither U.S. nor Myanmar officials have publicly named the deceased, but the New York Post and other Western media outlets have identified him as Daniel Paul Riva, 43, who served as a regional security officer for the U.S. Department of State. Online obituaries for a person by that name include details matching the same date of death as the victim, as well as memories of his work at multiple U.S. embassies.
The U.S. Department of State confirmed the death of a U.S. government employee but declined to provide further details, including the victim's name, citing privacy reasons.
Pawinee was arrested after the diplomat's body was discovered — he had died from stab wounds to the head and neck — on 11 May in a room at the Sakura Residence and Hotel, a popular establishment among diplomats, business travellers, and foreign tourists, located approximately 1.5 kilometres from the U.S. Embassy.
Police opened a case under provisions relating to murder, which carries a sentence ranging from 10 years to the death penalty, but it remains unclear whether she has been formally charged with murder or even whether the murder investigation is still ongoing, her lawyer said.
An official from the Kamayut Township Immigration and Population Department confirmed her conviction on the immigration law violation but provided no further details.
Most officials rarely speak to the media, which is tightly controlled, and the police investigators handling the case, the Thai Embassy in Yangon, and the court that ruled on her case all declined to comment.
