Myanmar detains 39 dissidents for alleged attacks, rebellion plans

Bangkok, May 12. (EFE).- Myanmar’s security forces arrested 39 people for allegedly perpetrating attacks and planning to join rebel groups to receive military training, the official press said Wednesday.

The arrests began Apr. 17 in Yangon during a raid on the home of an opponent of the Feb. 1 military coup, where authorities found ammunition, detonators and fuses for explosives, according to state newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar.

The police investigation said these first arrests are linked to a series of explosive attacks that occurred in the former capital against government offices, although no group has claimed responsibility for the incidents.

During subsequent operations, security forces arrested 39 people linked to the attacks and other suspects also seeking to join ethnic guerrillas operating in the east of the country until early May.

The military uprising is facing a massive movement of civil dissidence that began to peacefully reject the new military junta, although a growing number of dissidents have decided to take up arms and join ethnic guerrillas fighting the army for decades.

The self-styled Government of National Unity, formed in April by elected politicians and anti-junta activists, also announced earlier this month the formation of its own civil defense to fight the coup troops.

At least 783 people have lost their lives since the uprising as a result of the brutal repression by security forces against the demonstrations, according to the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners.

This independent group also said almost 5,000 people have been arbitrarily detained after the coup, including ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest since the putsch.

The Myanmar Army justifies the coup on alleged electoral fraud in November’s elections, in which Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory, as it did in 2015, and which were considered legitimate by international observers. EFE

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