Myanmar’s junta-controlled Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the sale of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s family home in Yangon, in a ruling issued one week before the third anniversary of the ousted leader’s imprisonment.
The floor price has been set at US$ 90 million for the auction, to be held on March 20.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers have so far been unable to meet with the jailed leader to consult her about the ruling. She was arrested on the day of the coup on February 1, 2021, and handed 33 years in jail on various charges. She has been held in solitary confinement at Naypyitaw Prison ever since.
The lakeside villa in Yangon is where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was held under house arrest for 15 years by the previous military regime. But the property has been the source of a bitter family dispute between the democracy icon and her estranged elder brother for decades. In 2000, while she was under house arrest, U Aung San Oo sued her, claiming that the house was his.
U Aung San Oo’s original case was thrown out by the courts, but he filed a new suit claiming joint ownership of the property. In 2016, a Yangon court ruled that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi owned the two-story building and half of the land, while another building on the property and the rest of the land belonged to her brother.
In January 2019, U Aung San Oo appealed to the Supreme Court, petitioning for the auction of the residence and a share of the proceeds. The junta-controlled Supreme Court finally ruled in his favor on Thursday.
The colonial-style house at 54 University Avenue on the shores of Yangon’s Inya Lake is a historic site and national symbol of the fight for democracy in Myanmar.
Under the previous military regime, people in their thousands gathered at its gate to hear Daw Aung San Suu Kyi deliver speeches promoting democracy and free speech.
The democracy leader received then US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the house in 2011 and 2012.
The state handed the 1.9-acre-strip of land to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s mother in 1947, following the assassination of her husband, independence hero General Aung San. Daw Khin Kyi lived in the house until her death in 1988.
The parallel National Unity Government declared the residence as national-level cultural heritage in September 2022. The civilian government warned it would take legal action against anyone seeking to own, sell, destroy, alter, or otherwise use the property.
