An open air cremation in Sri Lanka

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Charles

From an article in the Guardian: 

Perhaps the most egregious use of diplomatic immunity goes to the former Burmese ambassador to Sri Lanka who reportedly murdered his wife before burning her body in his backyard – in full view of spectators and police.

The 1979 incident is recalled by Gerald Hensley, former vice dean of the diplomatic corps in Sri Lanka, who himself heard it secondhand from a Cuban counterpart.

“The story was she had started an affair with a band leader, and when she came back late one evening he shot her. The next morning he was out in Cinnamon Gardens, a suburb of Colombo, carrying logs for the fire,” said Mr Hensley, who also served as New Zealand’s high commissioner to Singapore as well as a posting in Washington, DC.

Neighbours recognised that the Burmese diplomat was making a funeral pyre and informed Sri Lankan police when he then dumped his wife’s body on top.

“It caused quite a stink,” Hensley said, adding: “The ambassador said it was Burmese territory and they couldn’t enter. In the end he was removed by the Burmese government and nobody seems to know what happened to him.”

A pity, perhaps, that Mr Hensley did not choose his metaphor more carefully. Read the entire article here

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