Myanmar’s Suu Kyi moved to solitary confinement in prison

(FILES) In this file handout photo taken on May 24, 2021 and released by Myanmar’s Ministry of Information on May 26, detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi (L) and detained president Win Myint are seen during their first court appearance in Naypyidaw, since the military detained them in a coup on February 1. – Hearings for the trial of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be moved to a prison compound in the military-built capital Naypyidaw, a source with knowledge of the case said on June 21, 2022. (Photo by Handout / MYANMAR MINISTRY OF INFORMATION / AFP)

 

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from house arrest to solitary confinement in a prison compound in the military-built capital Naypyidaw, a junta spokesman said on Thursday.

Since her ouster in a coup last year, Suu Kyi had been under house arrest at an undisclosed location in Naypyidaw, accompanied by several domestic staff and her dog, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

The Nobel laureate, 77, left those premises only to attend hearings for her numerous trials in a junta court that could see her handed a prison sentence of more than 150 years.

On Wednesday, she was transferred from house arrest to “solitary confinement in prison”, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said in a statement.

Her future trial hearings would take place inside a newly-built courtroom inside the prison compound, he added.

A source with knowledge of the case said Suu Kyi’s domestic staff and her dog had not accompanied her when she was moved on Wednesday, and that security around the prison compound was “tighter than before”.

“Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health as far as we know,” they added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

(FILES) In this file photo taken on July 17, 2019, Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi attends the opening ceremony of the Yangon Innovation Centre in Yangon. – A Myanmar junta court on January 10, 2022 convicted Aung San Suu Kyi of three criminal charges, sentencing her to four years in prison in the latest round of a legal onslaught against the ousted civilian leader. (Photo by AFP)

Since seizing power, Myanmar’s military government has detained thousands of pro-democracy protesters, with many facing secret trials that rights groups have decried as politically motivated.

Suu Kyi’s lawyers have been banned from speaking to the media, with journalists barred from her trial and the junta rebuffing requests by foreign diplomats to meet her.

“For the sake of the country and people, she (Suu Kyi) has sacrificed everything, but the wicked people are ungrateful and cruel,” one social media user posted on Facebook following Thursday’s announcement.

‘Punitive’ –
“What we are seeing is the Myanmar junta moving towards a much more punitive phase, towards Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch.

“They are obviously trying to intimidate her and her supporters.”

Under a previous junta regime, Suu Kyi spent long spells under house arrest in her family mansion in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.

In 2009, she spent around three months in Yangon’s Insein prison while she went on trial after being accused of harbouring an American man who swam across a lake to visit her while she was living under house arrest.

Under the current regime, she has already been convicted of corruption, incitement against the military, breaching Covid-19 rules and breaking a telecommunications law, with a court sentencing her to 11 years so far.

Suu Kyi turned 77 on Sunday and brought a birthday cake to court to eat with her lawyers ahead of a hearing on Monday, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

The coup last year sparked widespread protests and unrest that the military has sought to crush by force.

Fighting has flared with established ethnic rebel groups in border areas, and across the country “People’s Defence Forces” have sprung up to fight junta troops.

According to local monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the crackdown has left more than 2,000 civilians dead while more than 14,000 have been arrested.

 

© Agence France-Presse

Related Post

This website uses cookies.