U.S., Britain, Canada Issue New Myanmar Sanctions

The U.S. Treasury Department says, the United States, Britain and Canada have imposed new sanctions on seven individuals and two entities connected to Myanmar, in the latest measures against people connected to the military that seized power in a coup one year ago.

The Treasury said the sanctions were timed to mark the anniversary of the Feb. 1 coup, in which Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party were detained after they won a November 2020 general election. The military complained of election fraud, but monitors said the vote reflected the desire of the people.

“We are coordinating these actions with the United Kingdom and Canada to demonstrate the international community’s strong support for the people of Burma and to further promote accountability for the coup and the violence perpetrated by the regime,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, using Myanmar’s former name.

The Treasury said those added to Washington’s list of sanctioned individuals and entities on Monday included the junta’s attorney general, Thida Oo, whose office it said had crafted politically motivated charges against Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi is on trial in more than a dozen and has so far been sentenced to a combined six years in detention. All of which she has denied.
The Treasury also listed the Myanmar Supreme Court’s chief justice and the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission, who it said were also involved in the prosecution of Suu Kyi and NLD leaders.