Detained Myanmar Leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Moved, Kept in Isolation

By The Irrawaddy 25 May 2021

Myanmar’s detained elected leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved to an unknown location and is isolated from the outside world, one of her lawyers said.

The 75-year-old has been under house arrest since the military staged a coup on Feb. 1. Until recently she was known to have been detained at her residence on Mya Nan Bontha Street in Naypyitaw’s Zabuthiri Township.

However, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer U Khin Maung Zaw said she told him she had been moved to another place on Sunday. On Monday she made her first in-person appearance at a special court in Naypyitaw and held her first meeting with her legal team.

“She said she doesn’t know where she is being detained because she was just moved [Sunday] night,” said the lawyer, according to Voice of America Burmese service.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed to talk to her legal team for 30 minutes on Monday. Apart from issues relating to her legal case, the pro-democracy leader has been subject to an information blackout and knows almost nothing about what is going on in the outside world.

“She said she has no access to newspapers, TV or radio. She has no idea about what is happening in the country, including the [protest-related] casualties,” the lawyer said to the VOA.

However, the deposed State Counselor said she was aware of the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) and the National Unity Government (NUG). The NUG is a parallel government formed by elected lawmakers from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) and other ethnic representatives, while the CRPH is a parliamentary committee formed by the NLD lawmakers following the coup. Both have been outlawed by the regime.

“She said she learned about them via police as they asked for her comments [on them],” because her name was on the NUG list, U Khin Maung Zaw told The Irrawaddy. “But she refused to give her impression, as she doesn’t have thorough knowledge about them,” he said.

Responding to the regime’s plans to disband her party, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told her lawyer that the NLD will be there as long as the people are. The junta’s electoral body said last week the party would be dissolved as it had failed to follow electoral and party registration rules.

The military regime has filed six legal cases against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw. They include possession of imported walkie talkies and breaching COVID-19 regulations, among others. The junta has also filed a separate case against her in Yangon under the State Secrets Act.

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