Suu Kyi moved to solitary confinement in prison

YANGON, AFP: Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained in strong spirits after being transferred from house arrest to prison, a source with knowledge of the case said Thursday, and would

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi

“calmly” face her new solitary confinement.

Since being deposed in a coup last year, Suu Kyi had been under house arrest at an undisclosed location in Naypyidaw, accompanied by several domestic staff and her dog, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

The Nobel laureate, 77, left those premises only to attend hearings for her numerous trials in a junta court that could see her handed a prison sentence of more than 150 years.

On Wednesday, she was transferred from house arrest to “solitary confinement in prison”, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said in a statement.

Her future trial hearings would take place inside a courtroom within the prison compound, he added.

Suu Kyi was in “strong spirits” after the transfer, a source with knowledge of the case told AFP on Thursday. “She acts like before and is in strong spirits,” said the source, who requested anonymity. “She is used to facing any kind of situation calmly.” 

A source with knowledge of the case said Suu Kyi’s domestic staff and her dog had not accompanied her when she was moved on Wednesday, and that security around the prison compound was “tighter than before”. “Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health as far as we know,” they added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Suu Kyi will be provided with three female staff from inside the prison to look after her, said another source with knowledge of the matter, without specifying whether they would be convicts or prison wardens.

Since seizing power, Myanmar’s military Government has detained thousands of pro-democracy protesters, with many facing secret trials that rights groups have decried as politically motivated.

Suu Kyi’s lawyers have been banned from speaking to the media, with journalists barred from her trial and the junta rebuffing requests by foreign diplomats to meet her.