Burmese authorities yesterday filed criminal charges against deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi for possessing illegally imported walkie-talkies just days after the military ousted her government in a coup.
Aung San Suu Kyi was charged for breaching an import-export law and faces as many as three years in prison if convicted.
A police incident report said that unauthorized telecommunications equipment was found at her home in Naypyitaw, the capital.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Former Burmese president Win Myint was separately charged for breaching the natural disaster management law over an election campaign rally that police say breached COVID-19 restrictions and faces the same penalty, the report said.
Kyi Toe, a member of the central information committee of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, confirmed the report.
Aung San Suu Kyi has called on supporters to resist Myanmar’s generals, who seized power on Monday after claiming without presenting evidence that her landslide victory in the election in November last year was tainted with fraud.
The military has pledged to hold elections after a year-long state of emergency.
NLD lawmakers yesterday released a statement demanding the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint, recognition of the election results and the removal of all barriers to holding a new parliamentary session.
Protests against the coup have emerged, with a “Civil Disobedience Movement” started by democracy advocates, including medical professionals, yesterday announcing that more than 70 hospitals and medical departments would stop work in protest of what it called an “illegitimate” government.
The coup could not have come at a worse time for a country battling a steady rise in COVID-19 cases with a dangerously inadequate health system.
“We want to show the world we are totally against military dictatorship, and we want our elected government and leader back,’’ said Zun Ei Phyu, a doctor in Yangon. “We want to show them we will follow only our elected government. Not the military.”
Photographs were shared on social media showing workers with red ribbons pinned to their clothes or holding printed photographs of red ribbons.
Others used a three-finger salute that has become a symbol of pro-democracy protests in Thailand, where the military staged a coup six years ago and remains influential.
Some medical staff went on strike, while others who continued work in government-run clinics made public their opposition to the new military rulers.
Some of those on strike have begun to volunteer at charity health clinics, many of which were shut down as a precaution against a surge in COVID-19 cases.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
RSS