The junta accused Suu Kyi of using some funds donated to Daw Khin Kyi Foundation for personal gain, leasing state-owned land for the foundation’s office and purchasing land for a vocational training centre in Naypyidaw at a lower price than the market value. Previously, Suu Kyi was charged under the Export-Import Law, the Natural Disaster Management Law, Telecommunications Law and Incitement under a section of the colonial-era penal code.
Myanmar military leader General Min Aung Hlaing. Photo: Reuters
Meanwhile, a 16-year-old girl’s life hung in the balance overnight, after she was caught in the crossfire of a crackdown on Myanmar protests and her parents risked arrest in a frantic bid to get her to hospital from Wundwin, a remote town in central Mandalay region.
The girl known, by the pseudonym Ngwe Oo, was on her way to the market when a rubber bullet felled her on Tuesday.
“She was going to buy vegetables, but then the security force shot her from a distance,” a doctor said. “She was not even in the protest.”
What ensued was a frantic six-hour journey to get Ngwe Oo to a hospital, her doctor said – detailing a stricken health care system, driving despite a junta-imposed curfew, and a lack of trust in military-aligned services.
Her parents initially took her to a charity-run clinic, which bandaged her head but pronounced her wounds too serious. Then they went to the town’s hospital, where staff said they did not have the capability to treat Ngwe Oo and referred them to the nearest military hospital in Pyin Oo Lwin – about three hours away.
Doctor La Min, who declined to give his real name for fear of repercussions from the authorities, said the girl’s parents were in despair.
The junta has repeatedly said military-run hospitals are an option for civilians – but Ngwe Oo’s parents were terrified of army-backed services.
They wanted instead to drive in the opposite direction to Meiktila – where a general hospital had the equipment and staff needed to treat their daughter. But by then the clock had already ticked past 8pm – when Myanmar enters a junta-imposed curfew and anyone found outside their homes could be arrested.
“The family had no idea where to go – they were going back and forth on the road between the directions of Pyin Oo Lwin and Meiktila,” La Min said.
In the end, they had no choice but to go to the military hospital, where the referral slip ordered them to go. The doctor drove them there, worried other civilian-run medical centres might turn them away.
He added that Ngwe Oo was conscious the whole time despite having sustained a bloody injury to her head.
“She was asking her mother for water,” he said.
Arriving at the military hospital at 11pm, the 16-year-old promptly underwent a CAT scan, which showed broken parts of the skull had lodged into her brain on the right side.
“She will die if there’s no operation, but even with it, there’s only a 50 per cent survival chance,” La Min said.
Exhausted, he said that driving Ngwe Oo and her parents to the hospital post-curfew was not an act of bravery, but one of fear.
“I did it because I was afraid about what will happen,” he said. “For her to stay alive is the most important thing.”
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
