Myanmar’s junta stated that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” following concerns raised by her son, who told Reuters he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without his knowledge. In a Tokyo interview, Kim Aris said he has not been in contact with his mother for years and believes she is being held in the capital, Naypyidaw. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained after the 2021 military coup that overthrew her elected government and ignited a civil war. She is serving a 27-year sentence on charges including incitement, corruption, and election fraud, all of which she denies.

A junta-run outlet, Myanmar Digital News, posted a statement saying, “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health,” without providing evidence or details of her condition. Aris could not immediately comment on the statement. He noted that Myanmar’s upcoming multi-phase elections, beginning Dec 28, could provide an opportunity to improve his mother’s situation, although many foreign governments have dismissed the polls as a sham intended to legitimize military rule. Aris expressed hope that the military might release Suu Kyi or place her under house arrest to ease criticism ahead of the elections.

The junta accused Aris of attempting to disrupt the elections—the first general poll since 2020, when the military alleged Suu Kyi committed fraud. The junta called his claims “a fabrication, timed and distributed to disrupt the free and fair multi-party democratic general election that will be held in Myanmar in the near future.” Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, Myanmar’s largest political party, remains dissolved, and several other anti-junta groups are boycotting the elections.