Aung San Suu Kyi Indicted, China, Russia Block UN Security Council Condemnation of Myanmar Coup

Burmese military vehicles patrol the streets of the central city of Mandalay. (Feb. 3, 2021)

Burma’s Senior Minister of State Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were formally charged Wednesday (Feb. 3). Just two days ago, the Burmese military staged a coup to seize control of the country and detain Aung San Suu Kyi, Win Myint and other senior officials.

Aung San Suu Kyi was charged with violating the Burma Export and Import Law, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. A police document shows that a search of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s residence in Nay Pyi Taw uncovered multiple walkie-talkies that were illegally imported and banned from use.

President Win Myint was charged with violating the Myanmar Disaster Management Act. Police documents say Win Myint violated the rules during the new crown Epidemic by meeting with supporters during last year’s election campaign.

A court in Naypyidaw has remanded the two men in custody for two weeks from Feb. 1 to Feb. 15.

The BBC reported that the charges seemed trivial but were enough to achieve the military’s goal of barring Aung San Suu Kyi from political office because lawmakers cannot have criminal convictions.

Myanmar held parliamentary elections last November, with Aung San Suu Kyi’s Myanmar National League for Democracy winning a landslide victory. The Burmese military, however, accused the election of fraud and said the action was a response to election fraud. Democracies have strongly condemned the National Defense Force’s coup to seize power.

The Group of Seven (G7) also condemned the military coup in Myanmar on Wednesday and expressed deep concern over the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other officials.

In a statement, the G7 foreign ministers said, “We are deeply concerned about the detention of political leaders and civil society activists, including Myanmar President Win Myint and Senior State Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, and the targeting of the media.”

The statement added: “We call on the military to immediately end the state of emergency, restore power to the democratically elected government, release all those unjustly detained, and respect human rights and the rule of law.”

The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting on the situation in Burma on Tuesday, but the U.N. did not take immediate action because of obstruction by China and Russia.

Christine Schraner Burgener, the U.N. secretary-general’s special envoy for Myanmar, strongly condemned the coup and said the U.N. Security Council must “collectively send a clear signal of support for democracy in Myanmar.

According to the Associated Press, diplomats said restoring democracy was a key element of a draft statement the council was set to release to the media after the closed-door meeting, which also included condemnation of the Myanmar military’s actions and a call for the immediate release of all detainees.

The statement was not released because it would have needed the support of all 15 members of the council, and the U.N. missions to the Communist Party of China and Russia said they needed to send the statement to their respective capitals for review, the report said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin responded at a press conference Wednesday that the UN Security Council held internal consultations on the situation in Myanmar on Feb. 2, and that China participated constructively in the discussions.

He again stressed that China and Myanmar are friendly neighbors and said the international community should create a favorable external environment for Myanmar to properly resolve its differences. “Any action taken by the Security Council should contribute to Myanmar’s political and social stability and to its peaceful reconciliation, and avoid intensifying conflicts and further complicating the situation. At the same Time, China expresses its dismay and shock at the leaking of the internal document under discussion in the Security Council. This is not in line with the rules of work of the Council and is not conducive to the unity and mutual trust of Council members.”

Wang Wenbin also denied at the meeting that the Chinese Communist Party had secretly supported or acquiesced to the military coup in Burma.