Myanmar coup: Suu Kyi faces charges of breaching import and export laws

Nay Pyi Taw, Feb. 3 (IANS): Police in Myanmar have filed several charges against elected civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi following Monday’s military coup.

She has been remanded in custody until February 15, police documents show.

The charges include breaching import and export laws, and possession of unlawful communication devices, the BBC reported.

Her whereabouts are still unclear, but it has been reported that she is being held at her residence in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw.

Deposed President Win Myint, who is believed to be in jail, has also been charged, the documents show — in his case with violating rules banning gatherings during the Covid pandemic.

Neither the President nor Suu Kyi have been heard from since the military seized power in the early hours of February 1.

The coup, led by armed forces chief Min Aung Hlaing, has seen the installation of an 11-member junta which is ruling under a year-long state of emergency.

The military sought to justify its action by alleging fraud in last November’s elections, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won decisively.

Activists in Myanmar are calling for civil disobedience.

Many hospital medics are either stopping work or continuing but wearing symbols of defiance in simmering anger over the suppression of Myanmar’s short-lived democracy.

Protesting medical staff say they are pushing for the release of Suu Kyi.

They are wearing red, or black, ribbons and were pictured giving the three-fingered salute familiar from the Hunger Games movies and used by demonstrators last year in Thailand.

Online, many changed their social media profile pictures to one of just the colour red.

“Civil disobedience is one of the tactics that the young people in Myanmar are now launching across the whole country,” Yangon Youth Network founder Thinzar Shunlei told the BBC.

“They’re calling for action especially from the civil servants, to stop working for the government, for the military junta.”

A Facebook group has been set up to coordinate the disobedience campaign.

But there have been few signs of major protest. On Tuesday night, drivers honked their horns in the main city, Yangon, and residents banged cooking pots.

Myanmar has been mainly calm following the coup, with troops on patrol and a night-time curfew in force.