The regime’s National Defence and Security Council (NDSC) announced on Tuesday that jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi is in “good health,” dismissing concerns raised by her son Kim Aris and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party over her health as “deliberately fabricated and spread in a timely manner to disrupt” the regime’s 2025–26 elections.
“For all I know, she could be dead already,” Aris told Reuters during an interview in Tokyo, Japan. He added that his 80-year-old mother has heart, bone and gum issues.
Aris launched the All in One Piece Movement from Tokyo, which was staged in 26 other locations around the world, on Dec. 13. The movement calls for renewed international action to restore freedom, justice and peace in Myanmar, as well as the release of over 22,000 political prisoners in Myanmar jailed since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
Aung San Suu Kyi is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence. She and President Win Myint have been held incommunicado by the regime in detention since it ousted the NLD government on Feb. 1, 2021.
Myo Nyunt, an NLD executive member, told DVB that the family of Win Myint — who is serving an eight-year sentence — is allowed to send him parcels in detention but has not been permitted to visit him. He added that there has been no information regarding Aung San Suu Kyi.
Aris told DVB in multiple interviews that he has had no contact with his mother since 2021 but did receive a letter from her two years ago after he sent a care package to her at Naypyidaw Prison, her last known location.
Sources close to the regime told DVB that Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint were transferred to house arrest from their prison cells in April 2024. But this information has never been verified. Aung San Suu Kyi last met with her legal team in December 2022, according to her lawyers.
A total of 30,128 people have been arrested and 22,656 are still in detention for political reasons since the 2021 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
The NLD was dissolved by the regime’s Union Election Commission (UEC) for failing to re-register in 2023.
The UEC has scheduled elections to begin on Dec. 28 and continue into January 2026 in 274 out of Myanmar’s 330 townships.
