Myanmar moves Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest / Photo: Handout - MYANMAR MILITARY INFORMATION TEAM/AFP
Myanmar moves Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest
Myanmar's junta chief-turned-president on Thursday ordered deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be moved to house arrest, five years after sweeping her into detention in a 2021 coup.
A statement from the office of Min Aung Hlaing said he had "commuted the remaining sentence" of the 80-year-old Suu Kyi "to be served at the designated residence".
The office also shared a photograph seeming to show Suu Kyi sitting flanked by two men -- one in a khaki shirt and another in a police uniform.
It was not immediately clear where she will be moved, but a senior source from her dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) party told AFP she would likely be kept sequestered at an address in the capital Naypyidaw.
"We do not know where it is exactly," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
A Naypyidaw police source said security forces had been ordered to "enforce restrictions" in areas of the capital on Thursday night.
"The 'designated residence' mentioned in the order will remain under their direct custody and control," they said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official statement also did not make clear how many years remain in Suu Kyi's sentence.
In New York, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters the move was "a meaningful step towards conditions conducive to a credible political process".
Suu Kyi's lawyers Francois Zimeray and Catalina de la Sota told AFP in a statement they "welcome the evolution of her situation while stressing that she remains wrongly deprived of liberty".
- 'Same usual games' -
As military chief, Min Aung Hlaing toppled Suu Kyi's elected government five years ago, detaining her on a host of charges which rights groups say were confected to sideline her.
The move triggered a sprawling civil war that has killed thousands and displaced millions in the Southeast Asian country of roughly 50 million.
Min Aung Hlaing this month traded his military title for the office of civilian president, being sworn in after a tightly-controlled election that excluded the NLD.
Election criticism or protest was punished by up to a decade in prison, and the vote did not take place in areas seized by rebels in the war.
Democracy monitors described the electoral process as a rebranding of the rule of the military, which has dominated Myanmar for most of its post-independence history.
The move has been accompanied by some rollbacks of post-coup curbs and prisoner amnesties, which analysts have likewise dismissed as lip-service measures to launder the leadership's reputation.
"They're playing their same usual games as far as I'm concerned," Suu Kyi's son Kim Aris told AFP by phone.
"They're trying to legitimise themselves in the eyes of the international media and governments around the world."
"If she has actually been moved to house arrest, then I hope that she will be allowed communication with me and her lawyers, amongst others," he added.
"Nobody has reached out to me."
Suu Kyi remains massively popular inside Myanmar, but has been held almost completely incommunicado as her family warned of her ailing health.
In one of his first acts as civilian president, Min Aung Hlaing this month also pardoned Suu Kyi's top aide Win Myint, who served as her ceremonial president.
B.Bhattacharya--MT
