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Police in Myanmar, also known as Burma, have filed several charges against the elected civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi following Monday’s military coup.
She has been remanded in custody until 15 February, police documents show.
The charges include breaching import and export laws, and possession of unlawful communication devices.
Her whereabouts are still unclear, but it has been reported that she is being held at her residence in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw.
Deposed President Win Myint has also been charged, the documents show – in his case with violating rules banning gatherings during the Covid pandemic. He has also been remanded in custody for two weeks.
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Neither the president nor Ms Suu Kyi have been heard from since the military seized power in the early hours of 1 February.
The coup, led by armed forces chief Min Aung Hlaing, has seen the installation of an 11-member junta which is ruling under a year-long state of emergency.
The military sought to justify its action by alleging fraud in last November’s elections, which Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won decisively.
The accusations are contained in a police document – called a First Initial Report – submitted to a court.
It alleges that Ms Suu Kyi illegally imported and used communications equipment – walkie-talkies – found at her home in Nay Pyi Taw.
She was remanded in custody “to question witnesses, request evidence and seek legal counsel after questioning the defendant”, the document says.
Mr Win Myint is accused, under the National Disaster Management Law, of meeting supporters in a 220-vehicle motorcade during the election campaign in breach of Covid restrictions.
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Given the gravity of the military’s power grab, claiming that Myanmar’s national unity was at stake, and the storm of international condemnation that’s followed, these charges seem comically trivial.
But they may be enough to secure the military’s objective of barring Aung San Suu Kyi from political office, as members of parliament cannot have criminal convictions.
For 32 years the generals have tried, and failed, to neutralise the threat posed by Aung San Suu Kyi’s enduring popularity. She has won every election she’s been allowed to contest by a wide margin.
The only election she did not win was one held by the military government 10 years ago – back then she was also barred from contesting by a bizarre criminal conviction which was imposed on her after an American man managed to swim across a lake in Yangon to her home, where she was being held under house arrest.
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BBC.com
