Detained Suu Kyi Faces Criminal Charges After Myanmar Coup

(Bloomberg) — Myanmar authorities filed criminal charges against former leader Aung San Suu Kyi for possessing illegally imported walkie-talkies just days after the military ousted her government in a coup.

Suu Kyi was charged for breaching an import-export law and faces as many as three years in prison if convicted. The police incident report indicated that unauthorized telecommunications equipment was found at her home in Naypyitaw, the capital.

Former President Win Myint was separately charged for breaching the natural disaster management law over an election campaign rally that police say violated Covid-19 restrictions and faces the same penalty, the report says. Kyi Toe, a member of the central information committee of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party confirmed the report.

Suu Kyi called on supporters to resist Myanmar’s generals, who seized power Monday after claiming without presenting evidence that her landslide victory in November’s election was tainted with fraud. The military pledged to hold elections after a year-long state of emergency.

Lawmakers from her party released a statement Wednesday demanding the immediate release of Suu Kyi and the former president, recognition of the 2020 election results and the removal of all barriers to holding a new parliamentary session.

Some protests started to emerge in Myanmar, with doctors vowing to shut hospitals across the country. A “Civil Disobedience Movement” started by pro-democracy activists including medical professionals said Wednesday that more than 70 hospitals and medical departments would stop work in protest of what it called an “illegitimate” government. Protests have in the past been violently quashed under military rule.

In another campaign initiated by lawmakers, residents in Myanmar’s commercial capital, Yangon, banged pots and honked car horns Tuesday evening to show opposition to the coup. They are planning similar events daily and want to expand the campaign to other big cities like Naypyidaw and Mandalay.

The army “ruthlessly” staged a coup and is “putting their own interests above our vulnerable population who have been facing medical, economic and social hardships during this global pandemic,” reads a statement posted to the Civil Disobedience Movement Facebook page, which gained more than 160,000 followers since it was started Tuesday.

The group pledges to take direction only from Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party.

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