Detained Suu Kyi Charged After Myanmar Coup, Local Report Says

(Bloomberg) -- Myanmar authorities filed criminal charges against former leader Aung San Suu Kyi just days after the military ousted her government in a coup, according to local media outlet Mizzima.

Suu Kyi was charged for breaching an import-export law and faces as many as three years in prison if convicted, the report said, citing an unidentified source at the court. It said unauthorized telecommunications equipment was found at her home in Naypyitaw, the capital.

Former President Win Myint was separately charged for breaching the natural disaster management law and faces the same penalty, Mizzima said. A member of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party later confirmed the report.

Suu Kyi had called on supporters to resist Myanmar’s generals, who seized power on Monday after claiming without presenting evidence that her landslide victory in November’s election was tainted with fraud. The military has pledged to hold elections after a year-long state of emergency.

Myanmar has started to see some protests emerge, with doctors vowing to shut hospitals across the country. A “Civil Disobedience Movement” started by pro-democracy activists including medical professionals announced Wednesday that more than 70 hospitals and medical departments would stop work in protest of what it called an “illegitimate” government. Protests have in the past been violently quashed under military rule.

Another campaign initiated by lawmakers saw residents in Myanmar’s commercial capital, Yangon, bang pots and honk car horns on Tuesday evening to show their opposition to the coup. They are planning similar events daily and want to expand the campaign to other big cities like Naypyidaw and Mandalay.

The army has “ruthlessly” staged a coup and is “putting their own interests above our vulnerable population who have been facing medical, economic, and social hardships during this global pandemic,” reads a statement posted to the Civil Disobedience Movement Facebook page, which has gained more than 160,000 followers since it was started on Tuesday. The group pledges to only take direction from Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party. “We do not recognize them as our government.”

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