After Suu Kyi, Myanmar Junta Moves Former President U Win Mynt From House Arrest to Prison

New Delhi: Seven months after shifting former head of government Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest to solitary confinement, the Myanmar junta has also shifted the ousted president of her party U Win Mynt from house arrest to prison.

According to a news report in The Irrawaddy, the civilian president of the National League for Democracy was removed to Tuangoo Prison in the country’s Bago region from an undisclosed location where he was said to be kept in house arrest since the junta pulled off a successful coup in February 2021.

In June 2021, Suu Kyi was also removed from house arrest and has been lodged since then at the Naypyitaw Prison.

The news report quoted a source in the military regime’s home ministry who confirmed the information. “The detained President was moved after the minister (of home affairs, Lieutenant General Soe Htut) inspected a special facility” and “instructed staff to pay attention to security, anti-riot drills on January 12.” 

“According to a source close to the matter, the ousted President was taken to the prison on January 14, two days after the inspection, and placed in a new building next to the prison hospital within the compound,” the report said. 

“The reason for the transfer is not yet known and the junta has yet to release a statement on it,” it added.

The 71-year-old former president of Myanmar is jailed against charges of corruption, inciting public against the military, breaking COVID-19 protocols, and so on. Several Myanmar observers have called these charges trumped up.

In October 2021, the ousted president testified before a court in Naypitaw that unlike claims made by the commander-in-chief senior general Min Aung Hlang – who said there was no coup in Myanmar but a transfer of power as per the constitution – he was threatened early on the morning of the takeover (February 1, 2021), by two generals at the presidential residence to resign from his post. He was told to cite health reasons or else he would come to harm. His contention was that the military’s action was to make the coup look legal.

In December 2022, Suu Kyi, facing a series of charges since the coup, was sentenced to seven more years in prison. She had already been sentenced to 26 years in jail. The sentence is thus 33 years now.