Jailed Aung San Suu Kyi moved to house arrest

By Lisa Zengarini

Myanmar's military junta has announced that former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been transferred from prison to house arrest. The former president of her ousted government Win Myint was also among elderly and infirmed prisoners moved out of prison because of a severe heat wave, a military's spokesperson told foreign correspondents late on Tuesday.

On Wednesday the junta also granted amnesty for over 3,000 prisoners, including 28 foreigners, to mark this week's traditional New Year holiday.

Amnesty for over 3,000 prisoners

Suu Kyi, 78, is serving a 27-year prison term in the capital Naypyitaw’s main prison  for a range of alleged crimes, including treason, bribery and violations of the telecommunications law. According to her supporters and rights groups the convictions were fabricated for political reasons.

She was arrested when the military overthrew her democratic government on February 1, 2021, claiming that her National League for Democracy Party used widespread electoral fraud to win the 2020 general elections, an allegation independent observers found baseless.

Suu Kyi's health conditions reportedly deteriorated

No indication has been given on whether the latest move of the junta is meant to be temporary or permanent.

Over the past months Suu Kyi's health has reportedly deteriorated. Her younger son Kim Aris, a British national, has said in interviews that he had heard that his mother has been extremely ill and was unable to eat.

The youngest daughter of General Aung San, Father of the Nation of modern-day Myanmar, Suu Kyi, spent almost 15 years as a political prisoner under house arrest by previous military governments between 1989 and 2010, and played a vital role in the country’s transition to partial democracy in the 2010s.

A symbol of the nonviolent struggle for democracy in Myanmar

Her tough stand against military rule turned her into a symbol of the nonviolent struggle for democracy in Myanmar and won her the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.

However, during her first term as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs after the first democratic elections in the country in 2015  she drew criticism from several countries and organisations over Myanmar's inaction in response to the genocide of the Muslim Rohingya people in Rakhine State, and her refusal to acknowledge that the Myanmar's military has committed massacres. In 2019, Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in the International Court of Justice where she defended the Myanmar military against allegations of genocide against this ethnic minority  

Three years of conflict in Myanmar

Suu Kyi’s transfer comes as the army has been suffering a string of major defeats in its fight against pro-democracy resistance fighters and their allies in ethnic minority guerrilla forces who now control nearly all of Myanmar’s borders with Thailand, Laos, China, India, and Bangladesh.

The nationwide conflict began soon after the military crackdown on non-violent protests that sought a return to democratic rule. Over 20,000 people arrested on political charges since the army takeover are still in detention in Myanmar, most of whom have not received criminal convictions.

Pope Francis' repeated appeals for Myanmar

Pope Francis, who visited Myanmar in 2017, has repeatedly called for a peaceful solution to the conflict in the country. At the 28 January Angelus, he again  decried the violence and joined the Burmese Bishops in praying that "the weapons of destruction may be transformed into instruments to grow in humanity and justice." "For three years now," he said, "the cry of pain and the din of weapons have taken the place of the smile that characterises the people of Myanmar."

(Source: News agencies)