Myanmar’s military junta charge Aung San Suu Kyi in a bid to justify her detention
The military leaders of the coup in Myanmar have launched legal action against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi in an attempt to justify her detention.Suu Kyi has been charged with possession of illegally imported walkie talkies two days after she was placed under arrest and appears to be an effort to lend a legal justification for her detention.
Foreign ministers from leading industrial nations have condemned the military coup in Myanmar.
The military announced on Monday that it would take power for one year and impose a state of emergency - accusing Suu Kyi’s government of not investigating allegations of voter fraud in recent elections.
Suu Kyi’s party swept that vote, and the military-backed party did poorly.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing announced the moves on Tuesday, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said, alongside plans to prioritise the Covid-19 outbreak and the economy.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party confirmed the charge against her that carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
They also said the country’s ousted president, Win Myint, was charged with violating the natural disaster management law.
Larry Jagan, an independent analyst of Myanmar affairs: "It was clear that the military were going to look for some legal cases against the leaders of the National League for Democracy and especially Aung San Suu Kyi to actually legitimise what they’ve tried to do."Some medical workers have declared they won’t work for the new military government in protest of the coup at a time when the country is battling a steady rise in Covid-19 cases with a dangerously inadequate health system.
Photos were shared on social media showing health workers with red ribbons pinned to their clothes or holding printed photos of red ribbons.
Myanmar has confirmed more than 140,600 cases including 3,100 deaths.
Its health care infrastructure is one of the weakest in Asia, according to the UN.
Foreign secretaries of the G7 nations, which includes the UK, US and France, issued a joint statement saying they are “deeply concerned” at the detention of politicians in Myanmar.
In the November 2020 election, Suu Kyi’s party captured 396 out of 476 seats contested in the lower and upper houses of Parliament.
The state Union Election Commission four days before the military takeover had declared there were no significant problems with the vote.
The main opposition party, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, won only 33 seats.
In a statement issued by the foreign secretaries of the G7 countries, ministers said: “We are deeply concerned by the detention of political leaders and civil society activists, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, and targeting of the media.
“We call upon the military to immediately end the state of emergency, restore power to the democratically-elected government, to release all those unjustly detained and to respect human rights and the rule of law.
“The November election results must be respected and Parliament should be convened at the earliest opportunity.”
The statement was also signed by the High Representative of the European Union.
Suu Kyi had been a fierce critic of the army before the country moved to democracy in 2015.
After her party came to power she worked with the generals and even defended their crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, damaging her international reputation.