Myanmar junta says Suu Kyi moved to deal with arrest, doubts linger : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2021/01/31/ap21027281436832_custom-a7618004cd92edc52f34ec56ab7c593a7b195edb.jpg?s=1100&c=50&f=jpeg" data-template="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2021/01/31/ap21027281436832_custom-a7618004cd92edc52f34ec56ab7c593a7b195edb.jpg?s={width}&c={quality}&f={format}" class="img" alt="Myanmar’s former leader Aung San Suu Kyi was detained following a military coup in 2021." fetchpriority="high"/> Myanmar's former chief Aung San Suu Kyi was detained following a army coup in 2021. Aung Shine Oo/AP conceal caption

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Aung Shine Oo/AP Myanmar's former chief Aung San Suu Kyi was detained following a army coup in 2021.

Aung Shine Oo/AP BANGKOK — Myanmar's army junta has transferred deposed chief Aung San Suu Kyi from jail to deal with arrest, state broadcaster MRTV introduced Thursday – a transfer her son is asking a "calculated gesture" moderately than an indication of real progress.

Suu Kyi, 80, has been held in detention because the army seized energy in a February 2021 coup, toppling the democratically elected authorities she led. She was sentenced to 27 years in jail on what are broadly condemned as fabricated prices of corruption and electoral fraud.

The order to switch her got here from Min Aung Hlaing, the overall who led the coup and organized to be sworn on this month as Myanmar's civilian president following an election that excluded her dissolved social gathering, the Nationwide League for Democracy. The election was broadly dismissed as a sham.

A press release from his workplace stated he had "commuted the remaining sentence" of Suu Kyi "to be served on the designated residence."

Undisclosed location The situation of that residence has not been disclosed.

Nay Cellphone Latt, spokesperson for Myanmar's parallel anti-junta administration, the Nationwide Unity Authorities, advised NPR she had not been returned to her Naypyidaw dwelling.

"The place is she?" he stated. "This isn't arduous proof that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is alive, neither is it an unconditional launch of our chief."

A separate amnesty on April 17 had already lowered Suu Kyi's sentence by one-sixth, bringing her remaining time period to 18 years and 9 months.

The secrecy surrounding her new location alarms her son, Kim Aris. The announcement was accompanied by a video nonetheless of a smiling Suu Kyi sitting alongside two officers — a picture Aris believes dates to 2022, from the trial course of.

"Shifting her from a jail to a secret location doesn't imply freedom," he stated. "She stays a hostage, utterly minimize off from the world and underneath absolutely the management of those that proceed to unlawfully detain her."

In a press release launched Thursday night and shared with NPR, Aris additionally steered the timing was not coincidental, coming shortly after public statements from the Chinese language authorities concerning his mom's standing.

He described the strikes as "calculated gestures designed to ease worldwide stress and create the phantasm of change, whereas the truth on the bottom stays brutal and unchanged."

Aris stated he had but to obtain any affirmation of his mom's wellbeing from an authoritative supply.

"I nonetheless have no idea the place my mom is. I have no idea how she is. I stay deeply involved about whether or not she continues to be alive," he stated. "If she is alive, I ask for proof of life."

His attraction extends past his mom – hundreds of political prisoners stay incarcerated throughout Myanmar.

Till now, uncommon glimpses into Suu Kyi's detention had painted a troubling image. Footage printed by the Guardian in June 2025 — dated August and December 2022 — confirmed her showing in a makeshift courtroom alongside deposed president Win Myint throughout military-run corruption trials condemned by the U.N., U.S. and the EU as politically motivated.

Leaked jail logs protecting days in January and February 2024 revealed a regimented life inside a specifically constructed detention facility in Naypyidaw, the place she was held in solitary confinement, remoted from the skin world as a civil warfare engulfed her nation.

The data additionally raised issues about her well being, detailing medicines she receives for a variety of points. Entry to the skin world was strictly managed, with solely uncommon supervised visits from her authorized crew.