Myanmar hires American lobbyist Roger Stone
The regime’s Ministry of Information reportedly hired veteran American political lobbyist Roger Stone to rebuild relations with the Trump administration in Washington, DC. According to the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act filings in April, Stone is being paid $50,000 USD per month as a consultant for the U.S.-based lobbying firm DCI Group, which signed a $3 million USD contract with Burma in July 2025.
Zar Li Aye, a human rights lawyer from Myanmar, told DVB that Naypyidaw seeks international legitimacy following elections won by the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in January. Hla Swe, a USDP Member of Parliament elected to the Pyitthu Hulttaw representing Naypyidaw’s Pobbathiri Township, told DVB that the new USDP administration wants to have U.S. sanctions lifted.
A contract signed last year for McKeon Group to lobby Washington for $60,000 USD was set to expire in February. In 2021, Israeli-Canadian lobbyist Ari Ben-Menashe’s company Dickens & Madson Canada reportedly signed a $2 million USD contract to lobby Washington. But he later announced he was stopping his lobbying efforts due to international sanctions preventing him from receiving payment.
Read our latest DVB English News op-ed: Relief, confusion, and the Myanmar military’s new political theatre.
Aung San Suu Kyi lawyers deny meeting in Naypyidaw
The legal team representing jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi has firmly denied reports that they met with the 80-year-old leader following her recent transfer from Naypyidaw Prison to an undisclosed location for house arrest by the regime.
Dismissing a Friday report by Reuters that claimed a meeting was scheduled for May 3, an attorney from her four-member legal team told DVB that no such visit took place. “We haven’t asked [the regime] to meet her after she was moved to house arrest,” the attorney said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
A source close to Naypyidaw Prison confirmed to DVB that while the legal team is permitted to send care packages to Aung San Suu Kyi every Sunday, they have been completely barred from meeting with her in person since 2023. Aung San Suu Kyi’s son Kim Aris has not spoken to his mother in five years and has only received a letter. Read more
The Court of First Instance in Dili, Timor-Leste, on Feb. 3, 2026 after legal proceedings were opened against the Myanmar regime and its leader Min Aung Hlaing by the Chin Human Rights Organization and the Myanmar Accountability Project. (Credit: Tatoli)
War crimes case against Min Aung Hlaing in Timor-Leste
A formal criminal file accusing regime leader Min Aung Hlaing of war crimes and crimes against humanity has been submitted to Court of First Instance in the Timor-Leste capital Dili, marking a significant escalation in international legal efforts to hold him accountable for alleged crimes committed since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
Min Aung Hlaing is already facing scrutiny from the world’s two highest international courts in The Hague—the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ)—where Burma stands accused of violating the Genocide Convention for its systematic atrocities against the country’s ethnic Rohingya population.
“I urge the Timorese authorities to take the simple step of opening an investigation against war criminal Min Aung Hlaing, who is already under investigation by the [ICC],” said Salai Za Uk Ling, the director of the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO). The file for judicial review alleges that Min Aung Hlaing holds responsibility for a systematic campaign of atrocities committed in Chin State. Read more
News by Region
KACHIN—Two civilians were injured by artillery in Hpakant Township’s Lonekhin village-tract during a military counteroffensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) on Monday, residents told DVB. Hpakant is located 94 miles (151 km) west of the state capital Myitkyina.
A Hpakant resident told DVB that about 50 regime troops deployed inside the Lonekhin hospital compound have been attacking KIA positions nearby since April 19. The battle over control of Hpakant between the KIA and regime forces resumed on April 23, 2025.
MANDALAY—The U.S. Embassy in Yangon held an event to officially reopen the Jefferson Center in Mandalay on Thursday, following extensive renovations due to damage caused by the earthquake on March 28, 2025, regime media reported.
The Jefferson Center offers cultural, educational, and information programs “to serve as a vital bridge” for relations between Americans and residents of Burma’s second largest city. U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Douglas Sonnek hosted the event to celebrate the restoration of the heritage building. Read more
YANGON—Residents of Dawbon Township told DVB that 50 Rohingya, who had fled their homes in Arakan State’s Buthitaung and Maungdaw townships, were detained by regime administration officials and monks on Saturday. Dawbon is located five miles (8 km) south of Yangon.
A source in the administration told DVB that the 50 Rohingya were handed over to police, accused of being “Bengalis” who had illegally entered from Bangladesh. Buthidaung and Maungdaw, located along the Burma-Bangladesh border, were seized by the Arakan Army (AA) in 2024.
(Exchange rate: $1 USD = 4,180 MMK)
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