00:00With little information about her condition, the son of Myanmar's detained former leader,
00:08Aung San Suu Kyi, fears he may not even be informed if she dies.
00:13Kim Aris revealed he has had no direct contact with his 80-year-old mother for years, receiving
00:18only indirect updates about her health since the 2021 military coup that toppled her elected
00:25government.
00:26While Aris dismisses the junta's planned elections, he believes they could provide a rare opportunity
00:31to push for his mother's release.
00:33For all I know, she could be dead already.
00:36And the military have spread rumors around that she is dead at points over the years,
00:43or she's had a stroke, or she's mentally incapacitated one way or another.
00:48Myanmar's military has previously released political prisoners to mark elections or major events.
00:54Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi was freed in 2010 days after an election, ending years of detention.
01:02She became Myanmar's de facto leader after the 2015 polls, but her reputation later suffered
01:08over allegations of genocide against the Rohingya.
01:11Since the 2021 coup, the country has been in turmoil, and Suu Kyi is now serving a 27-year
01:19prison sentence on charges she denies.
01:22Aris believes his mother is being held in the capital Naypyataw, and he last heard from
01:26her two years ago.
01:28With conflicts breaking out all over the world, Aris says he worries that people are forgetting
01:33about Myanmar.
01:34Free!
01:35Free!
01:36Free all our people!
01:37Free!
01:38Free all our people!
01:39Because of the upcoming elections that the military are trying to stage, which we all
01:44know are completely unfair, and so far from being free that it would be laughable if it
01:51wasn't so lamentable, I need to use this small window of opportunity when the international
01:58eye is slightly more focused upon what's going on in Burma, to my advantage.
02:04And, you know, my mother's been locked up for almost five years now, and any sort of extra
02:11pressure I can put on the military, I have to take and try my best to move things where
02:17they can be moved.
02:19Aris maintains his mother was not complicit in the military's 2016-17 campaign against the
02:25Rohingya, which the United Nations described as genocidal.
02:31Suu Kyi has rejected those allegations, saying her power over the military was limited by
02:36the Constitution.
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