Legal team is scheduled to meet with detained former Myanmar leader Suu Kyi this weekend
The legal team representing Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi is scheduled to meet with the detained former leader this weekend, following her transfer to house arrest in the capital by the military-backed government, a representative confirmed on Friday.
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has remained in detention since the military overthrew her civilian government in a coup in February 2021. The coup has ignited a devastating civil war that has swept through much of the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, leaving her whereabouts uncertain. “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is currently still in Naypyidaw,” a member of her legal team informed Reuters, employing an honorific for the veteran politician, and confirming that she was placed under house arrest on Thursday night.
On Thursday, state media announced that she would be placed under house arrest, though the location was not disclosed. State media also aired a photograph of Suu Kyi, sitting on a wooden bench alongside two uniformed personnel, marking her first public image in years.
Suu Kyi’s legal team intended to meet with the 80-year-old on Sunday to discuss her situation and deliver some supplies, including food and medicine. The representative stated that it was the regular practice of her legal team to send supplies each Sunday. However, after they were barred from seeing Suu Kyi, the supplies were instead delivered to a police station for distribution.
“On Sunday, with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi having already been transferred to house arrest, it indicates that while we go to deliver her provisions as usual, we will have the opportunity to meet her as a team to discuss the next steps of the process,” the legal team member stated.
Following a lengthy series of clandestine trials after the coup, Suu Kyi received a 33-year sentence after being found guilty of various charges, including corruption, inciting election fraud, and breaching state secrecy regulations. Her supporters assert that the allegations were driven by political motives and intended to marginalize her.
The sentence was subsequently reduced to 27 years, and then further diminished by a sixth during a Myanmar New Year amnesty on April 17, which also freed her ally and co-defendant Win Myint, the former president.
On Thursday, her sentence was further reduced by one-sixth as part of a broader amnesty for prisoners in Myanmar’s jails, prior to the announcement of her move to house arrest.
Min Aung Hlaing, the junta chief who became president after leading the coup, has been under ongoing international pressure to release political detainees following a recent election, with calls for action coming from ASEAN as well. He aims to reconnect with the Southeast Asian bloc following its decision to exclude Myanmar from its summits due to the coup.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of the nation’s independence hero General Aung San, endured a total of 15 years under house arrest at her family home by Yangon’s Inya Lake. It was here that she delivered passionate speeches to her supporters, often addressing them over the metal gates of her residence.
