Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi moved from prison: party official

YANGON, MYANMAR — Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in a 2021 military coup, has been moved from prison to a government building, an official from her party said Friday.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved to a high-level venue compound on Monday night,” an official from the National League for Democracy told AFP Friday on condition of anonymity.

Suu Kyi has been seen only once since she was held after the February 1, 2021 putsch — in grainy state media photos from a bare courtroom in the military-built capital Naypyidaw.

The coup plunged the Southeast Asian nation into a conflict that has displaced more than one million people, according to the United Nations.

The party official also confirmed Suu Kyi had met the country’s lower house speaker Ti Khun Myat and was likely to meet Deng Xijuan, China’s special envoy for Asian Affairs, who is visiting the country.

A source from another political party said Suu Kyi had been moved to a VIP compound in Naypyidaw.

There have been concerns about the health of the Nobel laureate, 78, since her detention, including during her sprawling trial in a junta court that required her to attend hearings almost daily.

Suu Kyi has been sentenced to 33 years in jail for a clutch of charges, including corruption, possession of illegal walkie-talkies and flouting coronavirus restrictions.

Rights groups slammed her trial as a sham and a tool designed to remove the popular leader from politics.

— AFP