Myanmar police have charged ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi with possession of illegally-imported walkie-talkies, which could result in a two-year prison sentence, as a civil disobedience campaign grew against the military’s coup against her government.

A document from a police station in the capital, Naypyitaw, said military officers who searched Aung San Suu Kyi’s residence had found hand-held radios that were imported illegally and used without permission by her bodyguards. The charges, confirmed by members of her party, appear to carry a maximum prison sentence of two years.

A state newspaper also reported that the new military government would investigate what it has described as fraud in November’s election, in which its proxy party was heavily defeated by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).

The ousted president, Win Myint, is meanwhile to be charged for allegedly breaching coronavirus laws by meeting people on the campaign trail.

The moves are likely to fuel already simmering anger towards the military and in one of the first organised acts of defiance against the military since Monday’s coup, health workers in 70 hospitals and medical departments in Naypyidaw, Yangon and other towns and cities said they would not work under the military regime, accusing the generals of placing their own priorities above those of ordinary people during the pandemic.