![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Myanmar's year of turmoil: From coup to jailing of Suu Kyi Yangon, Jan 28 (AFP) Jan 28, 2022 Myanmar's military seized power on February 1 last year, ousting the civilian government and arresting its de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Nearly 1,500 people have since been killed and thousands of others arrested as the junta wages a bloody crackdown on dissent. Here is a look back at the year since the military's latest power grab, which ended a decade-long experiment with democracy after half a century of military rule.
The generals claim fraud in the November 2020 election, which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won by a landslide. Their actions spark global condemnation, from Pope Francis to US President Joe Biden.
The junta tries to block social media platforms including Facebook, which is hugely popular in Myanmar. Nightly internet blackouts are later imposed.
In the following weeks, these protests swell to hundreds of thousands of people in cities and villages around the country. Workers begin a nationwide strike on February 8. A 19-year-old woman is shot in the head when police fire on crowds in the capital Naypyidaw the next day.
More sanctions follow from Britain and the European Union.
Violent crackdowns on street protests escalate and by March 11, Amnesty International says it has documented atrocities by the junta including the use of battlefield weapons on unarmed protesters. A day later, a UN rights expert on Myanmar accuses the military of crimes against humanity.
The next month, ousted civilian lawmakers forced into hiding announce the formation of a shadow "National Unity Government".
Following a trial inside a prison in Yangon he is jailed for 11 years in November for unlawful association, incitement against the military and breaching visa rules. Three days later he is pardoned and freed, and flies home to be reunited with his family at New York's JFK airport.
She faces an eclectic mix of charges, including illegally importing walkie-talkies and flouting Covid-19 restrictions during the 2020 elections.
People defy curfews to queue for oxygen cylinders for their loved ones and volunteers take up the grim task of bringing out the dead for cremation.
Six months to the day since the military seized power, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing says new elections will be held by August 2023.
On January 10, she is sentenced to another four years in prison after being convicted of two charges related to illegally importing and owning walkie-talkies and one of breaking Covid rules. She will be held under house arrest in Naypyidaw while she faces a host of other charges in court, which could see her jailed for decades. bur-rma/pdw/mtp/dva
|
|
All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
|