Londoner held in Burmese prison for two years 'denied a translator'

Held: Niranjan Rasalingam
Niranjan Rasalingam
Kiran Randhawa15 August 2016

A London accountant who has spent almost two years in prison in Burma says he cannot understand legal proceedings in his case because he has been denied access to a translator.

Niranjan Rasalingam, 29, below, from Croydon, has been in jail in the city of Yangon since December 2014.

He was arrested along with three Indian nationals on suspicion of stealing 25 million kyats (£13,700) using cloned ATM cards.

He denies the allegations and says he withdrew money from a cash machine using his own card while in the country on a business trip.

It has now emerged that he cannot follow the legal proceedings because he does not have a translator, and after asking the British Embassy for help he was told it was up to the Burmese government to provide one.

Mark Farmaner, of the Burma Campaign UK, said: “We can’t have a British citizen left in jail for two years without being convicted of any crime or not having a fair trial.”

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it is raising “concerns” about the case.

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