Myanmar Junta Hits Aung San Suu Kyi With Two New Charges

The telecommunications charge is believed to be derived from the allegations over walkie-talkies which the military junta claimed were found when they searched her house on Feb. 1.

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 1, 2021

During nationwide protests over the past weeks, the Myanmar public is calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders detained by the military. (Myanmar Now)

Ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi faced two additional charges on Monday during a hearing conducted by videolink a day after the bloodiest crackdown on anti-coup protesters killed at least 18 people across the country.

The hearing took place a month after Suu Kyi was detained during the Feb. 1 power grab that annulled the landslide general election victory of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party last year.

The first of the new charges, bringing the total to four since her arrest, fell under Section 505b of the criminal code, which makes it illegal to issue “any statement, rumour or report” likely to induce members of the public to “commit an offence against the state”. It is punishable by up to two years in prison, a fine, or both.

The second is for an alleged violation of the Telecommunication Law’s Section 67 for possessing or using any restricted communication equipment that requires a license. It carries a maximum one-year prison term.

The 75-year-old already stands accused of illegally importing walkie-talkies in violation of the Export and Import Law, and of breaching the Natural Disaster Management Law for defying regulations aimed at curbing Covid-19 while campaigning in the election—the same charge filed against detained ally President Win Myint.

The telecommunications charge is believed to be derived from the allegations over walkie-talkies which the military junta claimed were found when they searched her house on Feb. 1.

Deposed President Win Myint was also accused of violating 505b during the Monday hearing, which was not broadcast to the public.

Attorney Min Min Soe, a member of Suu Kyi’s legal team, said she seemed to be in good health as she appeared via video link.

“She said at the hearing that she wanted to meet with her lawyer. The judge told her that he is working on it,” lawyer Min Min Soe told Myanmar Now.

The lawyer added that they had no access to the hearing for Win Myint and that the video link was closed after Suu Kyi’s brief appearance. Lawyers have not been able to meet with either of them since they were detained in pre-dawn raids at the start of the coup.

The next hearings are scheduled for Mar. 15. A number of ousted chief ministers in Magway, Rakhine and Mandalay who are also central executive members of the NLD have been charged with 505b, more commonly known as incitement.

It remains unclear how Suu Kyi could have incited members of the public to commit an offense without being able to communicate with the public.

The new charges were announced as Myanmar protesters returned to the streets a day after at least 18 people were killed in a crackdown by security forces in various cities, according to a tally by the United Nations human rights office.

Suu Kyi was taken away from her home in Naypyitaw more than a week ago to an undisclosed location, according to NLD sources.

The military had been keeping Suu Kyi at the house in Zabuthiri township since it detained her and several other top government figures in the Feb. 1 takeover.

“We don’t know where she’s being kept anymore,” a senior NLD source said on condition of anonymity.

Suu Kyi spent a combined 15 years under house arrest until being released in 2010. She won a parliamentary seat in a 2012 by-election before leading the NLD to two overwhelming election victories in 2015 and 2020.

On Friday the chair of the new military-appointed Union Election Commission, Thein Soe, officially annulled the results of the 2020 poll during a meeting with political parties in Naypyitaw.

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Tanker carrying jet fuel due to arrive in Yangon on Saturday

It is unclear who will take delivery of the fuel, but it can be used for military aircraft

Myanmar Now

Published on Jun 25, 2021

The tanker is due to arrive in Yangon on Saturday

A tanker ship carrying airplane fuel is scheduled to arrive in Yangon on Saturday after departing from Singapore’s Jurong Island on Tuesday, according to data from several marine tracking websites.

The Panama-registered tanker SANTYA is loaded with Jet A1 fuel, which can be used both for commercial aviation and military aircraft, documents seen by Myanmar Now showed.

Activists from Justice for Myanmar last month condemned a similar shipment of fuel made by PetroChina International Singapore and said the company was “complicit in atrocities.”

It is unclear which company is supplying the new shipment and how much fuel will be delivered. The PetroChina shipment was 13,300 tonnes.

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Since seizing power on February 1, the coup regime has launched numerous indiscriminate airstrikes in Kachin, Kayah, Chin and Karen states, displacing tens of thousands of civilians in its bid to crush armed resistance to its rule.

The tanker is likely to discharge its cargo at Yangon’s Thilawa Port, which has terminals for bulk carriers and oil tankers.

According to the marine tracking website FleetMon, the ship is operated by ENEOS Ocean Shipmanagement and previously called at Thilawa in April and May from Singapore.

A representative from ENEOS declined to comment on the shipment on Wednesday.

Justice for Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung called on ENEOS to “immediately halt the shipment.”

“It is reckless of ENEOS to ship jet fuel to Myanmar while the illegal military junta is in power, conducting indiscriminate airstrikes, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity with total impunity,” Yadanar Maung told Myanmar Now.

The spokesperson for the activist group pointed out that ENEOS is largely owned by Japanese financial institutions who have a duty to stop the company “from contributing to grave human rights violations in Myanmar.”

Industry sources told Myanmar Now that the current shipment may have been arranged by Brighter Energy, a joint venture between Thailand’s PTT and Myanmar’s Kanbawza Group.

They speculated that it also could have been set up by either Myat Myittar Mon Company, which is owned by the chair of Myanmar Petroleum Trade Association, or Puma Energy Asia Sun, a subsidiary of Puma Energy, which is majority-owned by the global commodities giant Trafigura.

Myanmar Now was unable to confirm the sources’ suggestions.

Puma Energy, based in Singapore, started distributing aviation fuel under the name National Energy Puma Aviation Services as a joint venture with the state-owned Myanmar Petroleum Products Enterprise in 2015.

On February 11 the company said it had suspended its operations in Myanmar following the coup for safety reasons, leaving its local partner to take over.

The company also suspended petrol sales at Myitkyina airport in late May, saying its trucks were having difficulties reaching the area.

The airport has been used by the military to launch airstrikes against the Kachin Independence Army, which recently attacked several trucks it suspected of carrying jet fuel.

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At least 20 soldiers killed and 1,000 villagers displaced during clash near Sagaing capital

One resistance fighter was also killed in the clash near Monywa, the local People’s Defense Force said

Myanmar Now

Published on Jun 24, 2021

The scene on Wednesday after eight homes were set on fire near the site of an ambush targeting a military truck (Supplied)

Local resistance fighters killed at least 20 soldiers and suffered one fatality during a clash at a village about 16 miles outside the Sagaing Region capital of Monywa on Tuesday.

The fighting started hours after about 50 regime troops arrived at Htayaw Kyin village in Yinmabin Township at around 8am and raided people’s homes, inspected their motorbikes and checked their phones.

The military flew surveillance drones over the area later in the afternoon. Then at around 3pm, members of the local People’s Defense Force launched an attack against the soldiers.

Regime troops retreated from the village during the attack but returned half an hour later when they encountered more resistance fighters outside, a PDF fighter told Myanmar Now.

“When the clash began, they went outside the village because they thought there would be fewer of us,” he said. “But when they saw there were a lot of us, they went inside and stationed themselves in the village.”

The resistance fighters held their fire while the soldiers took cover in the village, allowing residents to flee, he added. “Once we guessed that there was enough time for everyone to be out of the village, we surrounded it.”

The soldiers took cover in a high school, a monastery and a pagoda as the two sides exchanged fire for about three hours.

“The pagoda was damaged–some pieces fell off,” the PDF fighter said. “There were even holes in the roofs of buildings in the village.”

Two military trucks came from Monywa to bring reinforcements but PDF fighters attacked them with explosives, causing multiple casualties, the PDF said.

Survivors from among the reinforcements then went and set fire to eight houses near the site of the ambush, locals said.

At 6:30pm, PDF fighters retreated, allowing the military to also retreat to a site about two miles from the village.

“Our members who were involved in the fight say at least 20 soldiers were killed in two locations,” the PDF fighter said.

One PDF fighter was shot in the head and killed while two others suffered injuries to their hands and legs, he added.

The military deployed snipers and mortars during the clash.

“We’ll keep fighting until we succeed. We don’t accept the terrorist military at all, so we’ll just keep going,” the PDF fighter said.

On Wednesday morning, over 200 soldiers arrived at the village and took up posts at the school and the monastery.

“No one dares to go near the village. They’ve already destroyed a home along the road to the village,” a local resident said.

More than 1,000 people from Htayaw Kyin and nearby villages have been displaced by the occupying soldiers.

Villagers in Yinmabin Township were among the first to take up arms against the junta in April.

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Regime arrests military defector and former parliamentarian in Covid-19 isolation

Four people are arrested during a junta raid on a Mandalay civil society organisation where they had been undergoing temporary treatment for Covid-19

Myanmar Now

Published on Jun 24, 2021

An overview of the Mandalay neighbourhood where the Kanaung Institute is located

Four people, including an army defector and a former parliamentarian, were arrested in Mandalay by the junta authorities on Monday night during a raid on a local civil society organisation.

The individuals had been staying at the Kanaung Institute, which observes elections and conducts analysis on parliamentary affairs, in an attempt to isolate themselves after being infected with Covid-19. They tested positive for the virus last week, according to a source at the institute.

“They couldn’t go to a hospital. So they were staying at the office for temporary treatment,” a Kanaung Institute representative told Myanmar Now.

Those arrested in the 11pm raid were two Kanaung Institute staff, a former National League for Democracy parliamentarian, and Maj Soe Wai Hlaing, an officer who had left the Myanmar military due to his opposition to the February 1 coup.

Following the arrests, there was speculation on social media that Maj Soe Wai Hlaing had provided training to the Mandalay People’s Defence Force (PDF), which was involved with a clash with the junta’s armed forces in the city on Tuesday morning. The Kanaung Institute official denied the allegations that any of those arrested were linked to the PDF.

“These people have no ties to the PDF, they’re not giving any training. They were just sheltering at our office because they had Covid-19 symptoms and they were arrested,” the Kanaung Institute member said.

At the time of reporting on Wednesday evening, the military council had not issued a statement on the arrests.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners reported that nearly 900 people have been killed and more than 6,000 have been detained by the military council since the coup. The military council maintains that those killed are around 300.

The regime-controlled health ministry recorded 680 new cases of Covid-19 nationwide on Wednesday. A new outbreak began in late May and Wednesday’s record was the highest number of infections documented within a 24-hour period since the coup.

Since March 2020, there have been nearly 150,000 recorded cases of Covid-19 with 3,269 deaths in the country, according to the health ministry now under the control of the military regime.