Myanmar’s ruling junta has stated that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son expressed alarm over her wellbeing and said he had received little information about her condition.
In an interview in Tokyo, Kim Aris said he had not heard from his mother in years and fears she could die without his knowledge.
Suu Kyi, the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been held since the 2021 military coup that ousted her elected civilian government, triggering a protracted civil conflict.
She is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence on charges including incitement, corruption, and election fraud, all of which she denies.
The junta released a statement via its Myanmar Digital News outlet, asserting that “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health,” using an honorific for the former leader. The statement provided no evidence or further details regarding her condition. Aris was not immediately available for comment on the junta’s announcement.
Aris suggested that Myanmar’s upcoming multi-phase election, scheduled to begin on December 28, could offer a potential opportunity to improve his mother’s situation.
However, many foreign governments have dismissed the polls as a sham designed to legitimize military rule.
Aris expressed hope that the junta might release Suu Kyi or place her under house arrest to appease critics ahead of the vote.
The junta, in turn, accused Aris of attempting to disrupt the election, calling his statements “fabrications” aimed at undermining Myanmar’s first general election since 2020, when the military accused Suu Kyi of election fraud.
Meanwhile, Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, the country’s largest political party, remains dissolved, and several other anti-junta political groups are boycotting the polls.
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