YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar authorities have accused the country’s ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, of possessing illegally imported walkie-talk, his allies said on Wednesday, a move that allows generals to overthrow her legal reasons to detain her for two weeks.
The indictment came to light two days after Suu Kyi was detained at home and appeared to be an effort to lend a legal badge to her arrest, although generals have previously kept her locked up for several years.
The army announced on Monday that it will take power for a year, accusing the Suu Kyi government of not investigating allegations of electoral fraud in the last election. Suu Kyi’s party swept away with that vote and the military-backed party did badly.
National League for Democracy spokesman Kyi Toe confirmed the charge against Suu Kyi carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison. He also said the country’s ousted president, Win Myint, was accused of violating the natural disaster management law. A filtered load sheet from February 1 indicates that they can be kept until February 15.
“It was clear that the military was going to look for some legal cases against the leaders of the National League for Democracy and especially Aung San Suu Kyi to really legitimize what they have tried to do,” said Larry Jagan, an independent analyst at Myanmar Affairs. “And that’s really a takeover.”
Police and judicial officials in the capital Naypyitaw could not be contacted immediately.
As authorities worked to keep Suu Kyi in custody, hundreds of lawmakers who had been forced to stay in government housing after the coup were told on Wednesday to leave the capital in 24 hours. and return home, said a member of parliament from Suu Kyi’s party who is part of the group. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared attracting the attention of the military.
The coup marked a dramatic setback for Myanmar, which had been advancing towards democracy, and highlighted the extent to which generals have maintained control in the Southeast Asian country.
In response to the coup, Suu Kyi’s party has called for nonviolent resistance and a large number of people in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, have sounded car horns and beaten pots on Tuesday night in protest. Army supporters have also staged demonstrations.
Medical workers have also stated that they will not work for the new military government in protest of the coup at a time when the country is struggling with a steady increase in COVID-19 cases with a dangerously inadequate health care system. Photos were shared on social media showing health workers with red ribbons attached to their clothes or with printed photographs of red ribbons.
There were also protests in neighboring Thailand, where Myanmar national Khin Maung Soo said on Wednesday that he was protesting to “show the world that we are not happy with what happened.”
He added: “We want everyone to help us too.”
Taking control meant a shocking fall to power for Suu Kyi, awarded a Nobel Peace Prize winner who had lived under house arrest for years while trying to push his country towards democracy and then became its de facto leader after his party won the 2015 elections.
Suu Kyi had been a fierce critic of the army during her years of detention. But after his passage from the icon of democracy to the politician, he worked with the generals and even defended his repression against the Rohingya Muslims, harming his international reputation.
The international community, which had enthusiastically supported Myanmar’s nascent democracy, is now facing a test. The United States has threatened sanctions and called for a coup to take control. The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Tuesday but took no action.
The foreign ministers of the group of the 7 major industrial nations on Wednesday issued a statement calling for the release of Suu Kyi and others and for power to be restored to the democratically elected government. In an interview with Washington Post Live, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the UN would work with key international actors “to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure this coup fails.”
While in power, Myanmar’s new leader said the military government plans to investigate alleged fraud in last year’s election. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing announced the moves on Tuesday at the first meeting of his new government in the capital, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported.
While the military has cited the government’s failure to properly investigate allegations of electoral irregularities as one of the reasons for the coup, the State Union Electoral Commission has said there have been no significant problems with the vote. .
Analysts have said Suu Kyi’s big victory in the party could have surprised the military by surprise, and made generals worried they had too much power, even though the constitution had been carefully written to ensure the military maintained significant control, even with an assignment. 25% of the seats in Parliament.
Min Aung Hlaing also said that the measures to contain COVID-19 taken by the Suu Kyi government would be continued.
Myanmar has confirmed more than 140,600 cases, including some 3,100 deaths. Its health infrastructure is one of the weakest in Asia, according to UN surveys.
A statement on Wednesday on behalf of Suu Kyi’s party executive members said authorities on Tuesday began raiding party offices in Mandalay and other states and regions and confiscated documents and laptops.
The statement on the Facebook page of party spokesman Kyi Toe said locks were broken at several offices. He denounced the raids as illegal and demanded that they be stopped.
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Associated Press writers Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Edith M. Lederer of the United Nations contributed to this report.
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This story has been updated to correct that the charge against Suu Kyi carries a maximum sentence of three years, not two.