Myanmar military accuses democracy advocate of tax evasion News
Myanmar military accuses democracy advocate of tax evasion

[JURIST] The military government of Myanmar [government website; JURIST news archive] has accused National League for Democracy [Wikipedia backgrounder] leader, and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi [advocacy website; BBC profile; JURIST news archive] of tax evasion, claiming in the state newspaper that she violated Myanmar law by spending her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize [award website] award money outside the country. The New Light of Myanmar [media website] reported that Kyi was fortunate to only be under house arrest. Kyi, who has spent 11 of the past 17 years either in prison or under house arrest for alleged violations of an anti-subversion law [text], had her house arrest extended for another year [JURIST report] last May. She won the Nobel Prize won during her in-home detention. Reuters has more.

Also on Thursday, a Japanese high court struck down a government order to deport Khin Maung Hla, a Myanmar pro-democracy activist who fled to Japan using a fake passport in 1992. It is notoriously difficult to obtain asylum in Japan, which grants refugee status to a minute fraction of those who apply. The Japan Times has local coverage. AP has more.