Myanmar junta says Suu Kyi 'in good health' after son raises alarm

Myanmar’s military government said on Tuesday that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son told Reuters that he has received little information about her condition and fears she could die without him knowing.

In an interview in Tokyo, Kim Aris said he has not heard from his mother in years and believes she is being held in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained following the 2021 military coup that overthrew her elected civilian government and plunged the country into civil war. She is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence on charges including incitement, corruption, and election fraud — accusations she has consistently denied.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health,” the junta said in a statement posted on the state-run Myanmar Digital News, using an honorific for the former leader. The statement, however, did not provide any evidence or details about her medical condition.

Aris could not be immediately reached for comment on the junta’s remarks.

He said the military’s planned multi-phase election, set to begin on December 28, could present an opportunity to ease his mother’s situation. However, many foreign governments have dismissed the polls as a sham designed to legitimize continued military rule.

Aris said he hopes the junta might release Suu Kyi or place her under house arrest in an effort to appease critics ahead of the vote.

The military, meanwhile, accused Aris of attempting to disrupt the election — the first general poll since 2020, when the junta alleged widespread fraud by Suu Kyi’s party.

“This is merely a fabrication, timed and distributed to disrupt the free and fair multi-party democratic general election that will be held in Myanmar in the near future,” the junta said in its statement.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), the country’s largest political party, remains dissolved, while several other anti-junta groups have announced plans to boycott the polls. -Reporting by Reuters staff, editing by Devjyot Ghoshal and Ros Russell/Reuters