Myanmar Coup: Aung San Suu Kyi Charged with Breaching Import-Export Laws and Others

Several charges has been filed against Myanmar’s elected civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi following February 1 military coup.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been remanded in custody until February 15, police documents show.

The charges include breaching import and export laws, and possession of unlawful communication devices.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s 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-19 pandemic. He has also been remanded in custody for two weeks.

Neither the president nor Aung San Suu Kyi have been heard from since the military seized power in the early hours of February 1.

The military 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 Auung San 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.

The document alleges that Aung San 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.

Myanmar Military Coup After Aung San Suu Kyi and Leaders Detained

President 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-19 restrictions.

Activists in Myanmar, also known as Burma, are calling for civil disobedience.

Many hospital doctors are either stopping work or continuing but wearing symbols of defiance in simmering anger over the suppression of Myanmar’s short-lived democracy.

Protesting medical staff say they are pushing for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

They are wearing red, or black, ribbons and pictured giving the three-fingered salute familiar from the Hunger Games movies and used by demonstrators last year in Thailand.

Online, many changed their social media profile pictures to one of just the color red.

A Facebook group has been set up to co-ordinate the disobedience campaign.