Myanmar police file charges against ousted leader after coup

Reuters

Updated: Feb 3, 2021 / 06:24 AM CST

FILE – In this June 15, 2012, file photo, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi briefs the media after a meeting with Norway Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg at the Norway government guest house in Oslo. Myanmar’s military has taken control of the country under a one-year state of emergency and reports say State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and other government leaders have been detained. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

YANGON, Myanmar (Reuters) — Myanmar police have filed charges against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi for illegally importing communications equipment and she will be detained until Feb. 15 for investigations, according to a police document.

Myanmar’s army seized power on Monday, detaining Nobel laureate Suu Kyi and cutting short a transition to democracy in a takeover that has drawn condemnation from the United States and other Western countries.

A police request to a court detailing the accusations against 75-year-old Nobel laureate Suu Kyi said walkie-talkie radios had been found in a search of her home in the capital, Naypyidaw. It said the radios were imported illegally and used without permission.

The document reviewed on Wednesday requested Suu Kyi’s detention “in order to question witnesses, request evidence and seek legal counsel after questioning the defendant.”

A separate document showed police filed charges against ousted President Win Myint for offences under the Disaster Management Law.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach the police, the government or the court for comment.

Suu Kyi endured about 15 years of house arrest between 1989 and 2010 as she led the country’s democracy movement and she remains hugely popular at home despite damage to her international reputation over the flight of Muslim Rohingya refugees in 2017.

Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party said earlier in a statement that its offices had been raided in several regions and urged authorities to stop what it called unlawful acts after its victory in a Nov. 8 election.

Army chief Min Aung Hlaing seized power on the grounds of fraud in a Nov. 8 election, which the NLD won in a landslide. The electoral commission had said the vote it was fair.

The Group of Seven largest developed economies condemned the coup on Wednesday and said the election result must be respected.

“We call upon the military to immediately end the state of emergency, restore power to the democratically-elected government, to release all those unjustly detained and to respect human rights and the rule of law,” the G7 said in a statement.