Aung San Suu Kyi moved to solitary confinement in prison, says Myanmar junta spokesman

Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from house arrest to solitary confinement in a prison compound in the military-built capital Naypyidaw, a junta spokesman said on Thursday (Jun 23).

“In accordance with criminal laws … (Aung San Suu Kyi) has been kept in solitary confinement in prison” since Wednesday, Zaw Min Tun said in a statement.

Since her ouster in a coup last year, Aung San Suu Kyi had been under house arrest at an undisclosed location in Naypyidaw, accompanied by several domestic staff and her dog, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

The Nobel laureate, 77, left those premises only to attend hearings for her trial in a junta court that could see her handed a prison sentence of more than 150 years.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers have been banned from speaking to the media and journalists barred from her trial.

Under a previous junta regime, she spent long spells under house arrest in her family mansion in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.

She has already been convicted of corruption, incitement against the military, breaching COVID-19 rules and breaking a telecommunications law, with a court sentencing her to 11 years in prison so far. Aung San Suu Kyi denies all charges.

Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing had allowed Aung San Suu Kyi to remain in detention despite her convictions, but on Wednesday, Myanmar’s military rulers without explanation ordered all legal proceedings against her to be moved from a courtroom to a prison, a source familiar with her cases said.

The source, who declined to be identified due to sensitivities over the trial, said hearings would be shifted to a new special court in Naypyidaw’s prison.

“It is declared by the judge that a new building for the court is complete,” the source added.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES