![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/picture1-3.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSeven months after human rights activist and Myanmar\u2019s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s house arrest following the military\u2019s deposition of her National League for Democracy (NLD) government in a February coup, Myanmar\u2019s junta will put her on trial for corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suu Kyi is currently on trial for illegally importing walkie talkies and sedition during polls in the NLD won last year, in non-compliance with COVID-19 restrictions. Starting October 1, she will face four corruption charges, each carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years. While yet to come to court, she has also been charged for allegedly accepting illegal payments of gold and for violating a colonial-era secrecy law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allegations of voter fraud against the democratically elected NLD government as it trounced a political party in coordination with the military during the 2020 polls led to its deposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For 15 years, Suu Kyi has been sporadically placed on house arrests from July 1989 to November 2010. There have been attempts by the military regime to physically attack her in 1996 and 2003, where she only escaped by a hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eleven years after her previous house arrest, she was placed in another one by soldiers on the morning of February 1 this year. She was reportedly moved to an \u201cunknown location\u201d on May 23. The regime filed 10 cases against her succeeding her first in-person appearance at a special court in Naypyitaw the next day. As her lawyers are the only outsiders authorized for her to see for brief meetings in preparation for her weekly hearings, they are her bridge to the public. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Campaigners and lawyers believe that the junta is breaching Suu Kyi\u2019s human rights as her whereabouts are kept secret from her, her family, and the public. Other figures of the NLD such as President U Win Myint and its cabinet members have also been detained on the day of the coup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of Suu Kyi\u2019s lawyers and former political prisoner U Khin Maung Zau stated that \u201ckeeping political detainees\u2019 whereabouts is not uncommon in Myanmar.\u201d Myanmar has been controlled by the military regime for 50 years since the 1960s, and again this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suu Kyi\u2019s detainment gives her captors the upper hand with her isolation threatening her health and safety. Earlier this week, she was sick and unavailable for a hearing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Civilian armed resistance has upset Myanmar\u2019s economy, while the shadow government formed by Suu Kyi\u2019s party declares war against the junta. Over 8,000 people have been detained by the junta, and 1,100 killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In direct parallels with the Duterte regime\u2019s lackluster and militaristic response to the pandemic, the people\u2019s human rights have likewise been severely violated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the bloody \u201cwar on drugs\u201d campaign that massacred thousands of citizens, the ratification of the Anti-terror Law, the BFP Modernization Actthat would arm our firemen, the increased budget of the NTF-ELCAC, to the implementation of mere lockdowns to contain the pandemic \u2013\u2013 and \u201cto shoot them [quarantine violators] dead,\u201d it reflects the gruesome reality of the Duterte regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The abuse of such power thwarts the nation\u2019s duty to assert and uphold civil liberties and human rights. Duterte\u2018s overt resemblance with the dictator Marcos has pushed the people to be critical towards the tyrannical regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the upcoming elections, it is paramount for the Filipino people to exercise their right to vote to ultimately create a difference and stand as witnesses to the terrors of having a militaristic and dictatorial government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Featured image courtesy of Bloomberg.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n