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Myanmar police have accused Aung San Suu Kyi of breaking the country’s export and import law after finding “illegally imported” walkie-talkie radios at the ousted chief’s home.
The charges, contained in a police document seen by Reuters, are the first against Aung San Suu Kyi since the military seized power in a coup on Monday.
Reuters reported that police were seeking to detain the 75-year-old Nobel Prize winner until February 15. Police have also filed a complaint against President Win Myint for violating the country’s disaster management law.
Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and the President were detained by the army as well as dozens of other leaders of the ruling National League for Democracy Monday morning, hours before the convening of a newly elected parliament.
The military declared a one-year state of emergency, justifying the coup by alleging a “terrible fraud” in the November 8 elections, which the NLD largely won and which local observer groups called credible.
Longtime analysts of the country’s politics have said the charges against the couple have been trumped up and reminded them of past violations of the law by the military in its nearly five decades in rulership of Myanmar. .
Charles Santiago, Malaysian MP and president of the Asean parliamentarians for human rights, called the accusations “ridiculous”.
“It is an absurd decision by the junta to try to legitimize their illegal seizure of power over the democratically elected government of Myanmar,” he said in a statement. “It does nothing but further smear the wounds of the millions of people who voted for the NLD in November.”
“This decision is a page of the SLORC handbook,” said Moe Thuzar, Myanmar Studies Program Coordinator at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. She was referring to the State Law and Order Restoration Council, the junta that ruled what was then Burma from 1988 and that imprisoned thousands of people.
The arrests came amid signs of a growing campaign of public resistance against the coup.
Staff from dozens of hospitals in Yangon and other major cities work stopped Wednesday and posed for photos wearing red ribbons – the color of the NLD – in protest against the coup.
Some raised their hands in the three-fingered salute from The hunger Games, the dystopian young adult book and film franchise. The gesture was popularized by protesters during last year’s events in neighboring Thailand.
Self-proclaimed “civil disobedience movement” launched on Tuesday Facebook page Opposing the coup, some residents of Yangon and other cities banged on pots and honked car horns during the evening protests.
“We do not recognize the military government and we refuse to obey any order of this military government,” one of the group’s organizers told the Financial Times by telephone. “We demand that they release Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other officials detained on Monday.”
The man, who asked not to be named, said the group was planning further peaceful actions and would try to persuade other officials to participate. “We call on the people of Myanmar and the international community to stand by our side.”
The foreign minister of the group of industrialized countries of the G7 on Wednesday added his voice to condemnation of the coup, expressing “deep concern” at the detention of senior officials and calling on the Myanmar military to end the state of emergency, release prisoners and respect human rights and the rule of law .
A UN Security Council Tuesday’s meeting failed to agree on a joint statement condemning the coup after China and Russia opposed it.
Twitter: @JohnReedwrites
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