According to David Aung San Suu Kyi, the civilian leader in Myanmar who was ousted by the army in a coup, an official of her National League for Democracy party was charged on Wednesday with a dark offense for illegally carrying at least ten walkie-talkies entered. The offense can be punished with up to three years in prison.
The court order, handed down by officials of the party that ruled Myanmar until the coup on Monday, was dated on the day of the coup and authorizes the detention of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi for 15 days. The document states that soldiers who searched her villa in Naypyidaw, the capital, docked various pieces of communications equipment that were brought to the country without proper paperwork.
It was a bizarre post after a busy 48 hours in which the army put the country’s most popular leader under house arrest again and extinguished the hope that the Southeast Asian nation could one day serve as a beacon of democracy in a world that usury with increasing authoritarianism.
The surprising use of walkie-talkies to justify the imprisonment of a Nobel laureate reinforces the military preference for the use of fine strategy to neutralize its greatest political rival. The country’s ousted president has also been jailed for alleged violations of coronavirus restrictions.
The coup unleashed an elected government that was considered by voters to be the last defense against an army that ruled the country for nearly five decades. During his five-year term, the National League for Democracy received two resounding mandates, most recently in general elections last November.
As the foregoing occasion progressed, the military made use of the well-known playbook of dictatorship: the cessation of Internet services, the suspension of flights, and the arrest of its critics. Along with Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, her trusted pastors, Buddhist monks, writers, activists and a filmmaker were also brought along.
Yet, in the astonishing silence that followed the army attack, few soldiers patrolled the streets. By Monday night, Ms Aung San Suu Kyi was back in her villa in Naypyidaw, rather than staying in one of the infamous prison cells in the country. There was no further mass arrest, and the internet came online again.
The relative peace – so far it appears to be a largely bloodless coup – has forced some people in Myanmar to raise their voices cautiously against the re-establishment of army government. While some people removed the National League for Democracy flags from outside their homes, others took part in petty civil disobedience campaigns, beating pots and pans or hitting their car horns to protest the coup.
Dozens of workers at one mobile network stop objecting to their employer’s military links. Doctors in one hospital showed up together, each with three fingers raised in a provocative salute from the “Hunger Games” movies. The gesture became a symbol of the pro-democracy protests in neighboring Thailand, where coups also took place.
The indictment against Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, who served a total of 15 years in house arrest before the generals released her in 2010, reflected previous allegations of esoteric legal crimes. In one case, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi had her imprisonment extended because an American man swam unannounced to her villa on the shore, violating the conditions of her imprisonment.
But if such crimes seem absurd, they have real consequences. The military has made a habit of killing political opponents and critics by indicting them.
Together with Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi is President U Win Myint, one of her political acolytes who was also detained on Monday, issued a detention order for violating emergency regulations for coronavirus. According to U Kyi Toe, the official of the National League for Democracy, he was accused of greeting a car full of supporters during the election campaign last year.
If I am found guilty, Mr. Win Myint gets three years in prison. Keeping a criminal record could prevent him from returning to the presidency.
On Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council, which convened an emergency meeting on Myanmar, refused to issue a statement condemning the coup; China and Russia opposed such a move.
In Washington, the State Department said the military takeover was indeed a coup, a label that would affect U.S. foreign aid to the country.
Myanmar’s army, known as the Tatmadaw, held its first coup in 1962, a bloody exercise that paved the way for nearly five decades of direct iron fist. Me. Aung San Suu Kyi and the leading lights of her National League for Democracy were locked up during what was to be their political head.
The generals command the massacre of protesters and send troops to remove members of ethnic minority groups from their countries. Even when the junta gave a civilian administration some space to function, it ensured that the military would still control a large part of the economic and political sphere.
The confirmation of the charge against Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her peaceful resistance to the army, washed up on Wednesday amid a whirlwind of rumors. Early in the afternoon, National League for Democracy lawmakers traded junk information, even though they were themselves under military arrest.
One rumor has it that she will be charged with high treason, a crime punishable by death. Another version says she is accused of election fraud. No one guessed that her alleged sin would involve walkie-talkies.
In a statement released Tuesday by Army Chief of Staff Minor Min Aung Hlaing, Tatmadaw said he had acted in the best interests of the people of Myanmar.
“During successive periods, the Myanmar Tatmadaw has been pursuing the motto ‘People are the parents’ when it comes to the people,” the statement read, insisting that mass electoral fraud was forced during the November election to act. a coup.
The National League for Democracy, which oversaw the country’s election commission, dismissed Tatmadaw’s accusation that voter manipulation had led to a poor performance by the military.
On Wednesday, lawmakers from the National League for Democracy, who were confined to their living quarters by soldiers, issued a statement saying they were still holding Mr. Win supports Myint as president. They rejected proposals that they be relieved of their legislative duties. The national assembly was supposed to convene for the first time since the November election on the day of the coup.
“Stop the intervention actions,” lawmakers warned the Tatmadaw. It seems two days too late as a warning.