Myanmar Military Junta Revokes Pardon For Australian Economist

Yangon. Myanmar/ILLUSTRATION/UNSPLASH/Alexander Schimmeck

JAKARTA - Myanmar's military junta has lifted a prison pardon for an Australian economist who advised the country's previous democratic government.

Economist Sean Turnell, was released last November and has returned to his country.

Prior to his release, he was held in a Myanmar prison for 21 months.

Turnell formerly worked as an adviser to Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted.

The military junta has revoked a pardon for Turnell and ordered him to appear at a court hearing in Myanmar, ABC News television quoted ANTARA, Thursday, January 26.

Turnell is accused of violating the terms of the pardon because it was deemed the junta had provided misinformation about Myanmar in interviews, according to ABC News.

The Australian government expressed deep concern over the latest developments and said they had never accepted the grounds for Turnell's detention.

"The Australian Government has never accepted the grounds for Professor Turnell's detention, or the charges against him, and we are disappointed that he is currently being asked to answer for unspecified offenses following his release from detention," the Australian Foreign Office said.

Turnell was an economic adviser to Suu Kyi, who was ousted when the military took power in a coup in February 2021 and detained the Burmese figure.

Later, the military junta sentenced the economist to three years in prison on charges of violating secrecy laws.

In November last year, the Myanmar military junta freed 5,744 prisoners, including British Ambassador Vicky Bowman and her husband Ko Htein Lin, Japanese film producer Toru Kubota, and Turnell, who returned to Australia.

However, Suu Kyi and senior political leaders from her party are not included in the list of recipients of the amnesty.

Suu Kyi's government was overthrown in a military coup after her party, the National League for Democracy, won elections in November 2020.

The coup was followed by widespread civil unrest as people criticized the overthrow of Suu Kyi and the military rule.

The junta has cracked down on the protests with force, despite United Nations (UN) warnings that the country has plunged into civil war.

Since then, junta soldiers have killed more than 1,500 people in a crackdown on dissent, according to local monitoring group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.