Myanmar: Appeal filed against Suu Kyi’s arrest

Relatives of ousted Myanmar Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi have lodged a complaint with the United Nations over their detention after last year’s military coup. Human rights lawyers François Zimray and Jessica Fennell, on behalf of the Suu Kyi family, today described the handling of the Nobel Peace Prize winner as a “judicial kidnapping”. They submitted the request to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

“Their arrest was unlawful, their detention without any legal basis, and their various trials in violation of the basic rules of any legal process,” the complaint stated. It was a kidnapping disguised as an operation. “This is a tragic step backwards for Myanmar.”

Suu Kyi’s government was overthrown in a military coup last February and has been under house arrest ever since. She has already been sentenced to 11 years in prison for the alleged illegal import of radio equipment, violations of anti-corruption law rules, incitement against the military and allegations of corruption. There are also other lawsuits against them for breach of official secrecy, electoral fraud and corruption. If found guilty in all cases, she faces more than 100 years in prison.