Myanmar's deposed leader Suu Kyi taken to prison, according to Junta

Photo: Anadolu Agency
Photo: Anadolu Agency

A junta spokesman announced Thursday that the military administration in Myanmar had relocated imprisoned leader Aung San Suu Kyi to prison and placed her in solitary confinement.

According to a statement by junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun, she is being appropriately treated in solitary detention.

Suu Kyi was under house imprisonment until April of this year when she was transferred to an undisclosed location following her overthrow in a military coup in February of 2012. She is facing over a dozen accusations, including five years in prison for corruption, for which she was convicted in April.

Suu Kyi, age 77, has been under house arrest for approximately 15 years during various junta administrations in the Buddhist-majority nation.

While Tun did not specify the prison, The Irrawaddy stated that Suu Kyi was transferred to Naypyidaw Prison in the capital of Myanmar.

In the meantime, the junta dictatorship has rejected a request from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to "resume its prison visits and other humanitarian activities, as well as permit family visits."

Christine Cipolla, regional director for Asia-Pacific for the ICRC, requested her 15-18 June visit to Myanmar.

Since 2009, this is the second time Suu Kyi has been imprisoned. She was transferred to Yangon's Insein Prison four months earlier that year for "violating the terms of her house arrest."

In various incidents since last December, the Nobel laureate has been condemned to at least 11 years in prison.

The verdict on eleven further charges is pending.

The military overthrew Suu Kyi's administration in a coup in 2016 after it won the November 2020 national elections.

People protested the ousting of Suu Kyi and the reinstatement of military authority in response to the coup. The junta violently suppressed protesters as the United Nations repeatedly warned that the country had fallen into civil conflict.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a local monitoring group, the junta troops killed 1,500 individuals in a crackdown on the opposition.

Publish : 2022-06-23 20:13:00

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