Bangkok, Sep 20 (EFE).- Kim Aris, son of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, imprisoned since a military coup in February 2021, warned about a deterioration in her health on Wednesday.
“As far as I’m aware, my mother is unable eat due to gum disease and maybe problems with her wisdom teeth. Also, she was said to have been suffering from bouts of vomiting and dizziness and was unable to walk at one stage,” Aris told independent Burmese news outlet Khit Thit.
Alarms have been sounded in recent weeks about the health of Suu Kyi, who is 78 years old and is serving a 27-year prison sentence imposed in an opaque judicial process after the military seized power.
Two weeks ago, Kim Aris told British broadcaster BBC that his mother needed medical treatment for gum problems, which the ruling junta denied her.
Aris, who lives in the United Kingdom, said that he imagined that the conditions in which his mother was being held were “far from ideal.”
“I know that the conditions inside the prison in Burma are horrendous and the other prisoners suffer terribly in the prisons there so I can only imagine that my mother’s conditions are far from ideal,” he said.
“What’s happening in Burma is horrifying, prisoners are subjected to torture, many prisoners die in prison. It is reported that people are tortured just for the fun of it in Burma. I can only imagine that the conditions in prisons there are horrendous…none of them are safe,” he added.
Aris also denounced the isolation in which Suu Kyi was held.
“In the past, when my mother was under house arrest, I was actually allowed to visit her at times…And at that time she had access to her own personal doctor. Now nobody is allowed to communicate with her…Within the prison she is not allowed to mingle with other prisoners as she’s under formal solitary confinement,” he said.
In July, sources close to the politician said that the junta planned to transfer her from jail to house arrest, but it is unknown where she is now.
Suu Kyi, who came to power in 2016, was detained on the same day the military, led by General Min Aung Hlaing, seized power in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
Since then, she has only been seen once, during a court hearing, while the junta has banned her lawyers from speaking to the media.
Following her arrest, she has faced a string of charges for which she was sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison in a secretive judicial process although last month her sentence was reduced to 27 years.
The 2021 coup plunged the country into deep political, social and economic crises and has opened a spiral of violence with new militias that have exacerbated decades of guerrilla warfare in the country.
At least 4,092 people have been killed by authorities since the coup and 19,238 people have been placed under arbitrary detention, according to local nonprofit, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. EFE
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