Conflicts & War

Myanmar junta orders Suu Kyi to be moved to prison: local media

Bangkok, Jun 23 (EFE).- Myanmar’s military junta has ordered ousted leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to be moved to a prison in the capital, according to local media citing sources close to the case.

The 77-year-old has been under house arrest in an unknown location since the coup on Feb. 1, 2021.

The Irrawaddy news website said late Wednesday that she will be held in solitary confinement in a small isolated building within Naypyitaw Prison.

The Democratic Voice of Burma reported that Suu Kyi was transferred by the military to the prison on Wednesday and that she will be held in solitary confinement within a block there.

According to reports, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate was informed of the decision on Tuesday at the weekly court hearing she attends. The reasons for the move are unclear as no official announcement has been made.

Suu Kyi’s contact with the outside world so far has been limited to brief meetings with her lawyers at the weekly hearings, so it is not known if she is aware of the various crises in the country.

The deposed leader has been sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison in several contentious trials on charges of corruption, incitement against the military junta and breaking Covid-19 rules.

The elected state counsellor is also accused of violating the Official Secrets Act, which has a maximum sentence of 14 years in jail, and of electoral fraud in the November 2020 elections.

Suu Kyi’s lawyers, barred from speaking to the media by the military junta, have maintained that all of the claims against her are false.

The ousted leader, who was under house arrest for 15 years during the reign of the former military junta that dissolved in 2011, faces more than 100 years in jail on all charges against her.

The coup led by General Min Aung Hlain put an end to the fragile democratic transition in Myanmar and plunged the country into grave political, social and economic crises, which have sparked a spiral of bloodshed involving new militia groups, exacerbating decades of guerrilla conflict.

The army justifies the coup on grounds of alleged fraud during the November 2020 general elections, the result of which has been annulled and in which Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide in the presence of international observers.

More than 2,000 people, including some 140 children, have died as a result of brutal repression by security forces, according to data collected by the Myanmar non-profit Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. EFE

grc/pd/tw

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