Pope asks for release of Myanmar’s detained ex-leader Suu Kyi

Pope Francis maintained that Myanmar’s future must be peace based, with respect for dignity, rights, and a democratic order. (AP pic)

ROME: Myanmar must release former leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, with the Vatican as a possible safe haven, Pope Francis said in a recent conversation with Jesuits in Asia.

“I asked for Ms Aung San Suu Kyi’s release and received her son in Rome. “I offered to receive her from her in our territory,” he said in a private conversation during a recent 12-day tour across Southeast Asia.

The 87-year old pontiff visited Myanmar in December 2017.

Italian daily Corriere della Sera published the comments on Tuesday in an article by Father Antonio Spadaro, a Rome-based Jesuit priest who attends the meetings and writes about them afterwards with the pope’s permission.

“The future of the (Myanmar) must be peace based on respect for the dignity and rights of all, on respect for a democratic order that allows everyone to contribute to the common good,” Pope Francis added.

Myanmar’s military government has ramped up killings and arrests in an apparent bid to silence opponents and recruit soldiers in an escalating conflict, a UN report said last week.

Suu Kyi, 78, has been detained by the military since it overthrew her government in a 2021 coup. She faces 27 years in prison for crimes ranging from treason and bribery to violations of the telecommunications law, charges she denies. In April she was moved from prison to house arrest.