BANGKOK: Myanmar’s military-controlled government plans to transfer the country’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi from a prison in the capital, Naypyidaw, to home confinement.
The move is part of an act of clemency to prisoners in connection with a religious ceremony next week, a security official said on Tuesday (Aug 25).
There has been no official confirmation of the plans, though journalists working for outlets friendly to the military government said they had heard the same information. News about Aung San Suu Kyi is tightly controlled by the military government, and even her lawyers are banned by a gag order from talking to the media about her cases.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who was arrested on Feb 1, 2021, when the army seized power from her elected government, has been sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison after being convicted on a range of charges brought by the military government that are widely seen as contrived for political purposes.
Several of her cases are awaiting final appeals. Her National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory in the 2020 election and was about to begin a second five-year term in office.
The official in Naypyidaw, who is familiar with Aung San Suu Kyi’s situation, told The Associated Press that the military government will announce Aung San Suu Kyi’s transfer on the occasion of consecrating a new giant statue of a sitting Buddha it had built, a symbol of devotion in the majority Buddhist nation. The ceremony is due next Tuesday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he risks punishment since he is not authorised to release information, said he did not know exactly where she would be moved to or when.
The official said he was unable to confirm a report by the BBC’s Burmese-language service that she has already been transferred from the prison to a residence in Naypyidaw assigned to a deputy minister-level Cabinet official.
She was initially held after her arrest at her official residence in the capital, then moved to an undisclosed location widely believed to be on an army base before being transferred to prison on Jun 22, 2022.
Source: CNA
