Myanmar detains U.S. businessman who wrote about the 2021 coup: report

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Protesters clasp  portraits of deposed Myanmar person  Aung San Suu Kyi during an anti-coup objection  successful  Myanmar. File

Protesters clasp portraits of deposed Myanmar person Aung San Suu Kyi during an anti-coup objection successful Myanmar. File | Photo Credit: AP

An American advisor and writer of a memoir connected Myanmar's 2021 coup is being detained successful the country, 2 sources adjacent to the lawsuit told AFP connected Saturday (June 13, 2026).

Security consultancy laminitis Adam Castillo precocious printed a publication detailing his enactment successful the concern assemblage done Myanmar's subject putsch, which saw overmuch of the overseas assemblage discontinue the country.

Mr. Castillo — a erstwhile president of the American Chamber of Commerce successful Myanmar — posted connected his LinkedIn social media illustration this week saying helium was concluding an planetary promotional publication circuit successful Malaysia.

A Yangon constabulary root said Mr. Castillo was detained arsenic helium returned to Myanmar connected Thursday (June 11, 2026) implicit a suit brought by the existent manager of a concern organisation helium erstwhile headed. It was not wide whether the organisation was the American Chamber of Commerce successful Myanmar, which could not instantly beryllium reached for comment.

The constabulary source, speaking anonymously due to the fact that helium was not authorised to stock information, said Mr. Castillo was accused of breach of spot implicit a property, a transgression punishable by up to a decennary successful prison.

"The existent radical manager filed a suit against him related to their organisation affairs," helium said. "That's wherefore helium was detained astatine the airport." A tribunal remanded Mr. Castillo successful custody for 2 weeks connected Friday (June 12, 2026), helium added.

A abstracted root with cognition of the case, besides speaking connected information of anonymity, confirmed Mr. Castillo's detention but could not supply immoderate further details. A spokesperson for Castillo's information steadfast AGS Myanmar declined to remark connected the lawsuit erstwhile contacted by phone, and the U.S. State Department has not responded to a petition for comment.

Myanmar's 2021 subject coup deposed and detained elected person Aung San Suu Kyi, sparked an uprising of pro-democracy protests and tipped the state into civilian war. Since past immoderate countries person treated Myanmar's leaders arsenic pariahs, enforcing wide-ranging commercialized controls.

Mr. Castillo's publication details his enactment connected Myanmar including "confronting the White House connected failed sanctions policy", according to a income blurb. It is titled "Finding Our Voice: A Story of Leadership successful Crisis and the American Spirit Abroad".

"As diplomats fled, Castillo stayed, dodging bullets portion evacuating employees and transforming a dying enclosure of commerce into a thriving community," says the income blurb.

Myanmar was ruled by a subject junta for 5 years pursuing the coup. Military-run elections concluding this twelvemonth were tightly controlled, excluding Suu Kyi's enactment and returning a walkover triumph for pro-military parliamentarians.

Coup person Min Aung Hlaing was voted successful arsenic Civilian President, successful a modulation which galore ideology watchdogs dismissed arsenic a civilian rebranding of subject rule. Many analysts accidental the caller medication has utilized the modulation arsenic a mode to betterment its estimation abroad.

Published - June 13, 2026 05:43 p.m. IST

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