Myanmar’s military regime has removed the contents of detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s Naypyitaw residence, a junta official confirmed to The Irrawaddy.
“Her residence has been vacated. State-owned movables have been taken back. Her belongings have also been removed,” the Naypyitaw-based official told The Irrawaddy.
Prior to the military’s coup, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s home in Naypyitaw, Myanmar’s capital, was at No. 33 (A) Myananbonthar Street in Zeyatheikdi Ward. She was arrested there hours before the junta seized power on Feb. 1.
The team responsible for the maintenance of state-owned residences under the Naypyitaw Development Committee separately moved state-owned movables and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s personal belongings. The official said that he did not know where the ousted State Counselor’s belongings were taken.
Before Daw Aung San Suu Kyi lived in the residence, it was occupied by U Hla Tun, a senior leader in the military’s proxy political organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Party. U Hla Tun served as a minister of the President Office’s in U Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian administration.
One of the ten charges Daw Aung San Suu Kyi faces is illegal possession of walkie-talkies, which the junta claims were found at her home. At her currently-suspended trial on that charge, the National League for Democracy leader was cross-examined based on sketches of the residence drawn by her.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is being detained in an unknown location in Naypyitaw, faces up to 75 years in jail for breaching COVID-19 restrictions, corruption, incitement and one case under the Official Secrets Act.
Her trials have been delayed by the surge in coronavirus cases and postponed until August 16, according to her lawyers. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal defense team has been unable to meet with her for over three weeks, having previously met her in person on a weekly basis.
One of her legal team, Yangon lawyer Daw San Mar Lar Nyunt, has been pressured by the regime to stay silent.
She was forced to sign a document in front of the Kyauktada Township administrator and police in Yangon pledging that, “she would not talk to both domestic and foreign media, foreign diplomats and international non-governmental organizations”.
One Yangon-based veteran politician suggested that the regime has done that because ASEAN’s envoy is travelling to Myanmar in the near future and also because junta officials have recently talked with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Two regime ministers, U Chit Naing and U Win Shein, reportedly met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi recently. However, the junta did not issue any statement on the meeting.
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