The wife of a police officer who accused his superiors of orchestrating the entrapment of Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo has issued a plea to Myanmar’s leaders to reverse her recent eviction from police housing.
In a heartbreaking statement at a press conference yesterday, Tu Tu begged President Win Myint and Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to offer assistance to her family. Her husband, Police Captain Moe Yan Naing, has been in police detention since Dec. 12 – the same day the two reporters were arrested. Tu Tu and the couple’s children had been living in police barracks in Naypyidaw since then, but they were evicted less than 24 hours after Moe Yan Naing’s testimony.
The testimony was a rare example of a security official breaking ranks, and the Reuters reporters’ defense team expressed concerns for the safety of the police captain, who has been returned to detention.
Tu Tu and her children have moved to her hometown in Sagaing Region, but she believes the government must intercede on their behalf. Appearing with her two young daughters with medicated pads Myanmar people often use to alleviate headaches on either side of her temple, Tu Tu begged the country’s leaders to “Please help and protect us.”
Between bouts of tears, she went on to say that she has not been able to see her husband since he was imprisoned, nor does she know where he is being kept. She said she fears that he is being tortured, and she ended her statement saying that she simply wants what is just and right.
A police spokesman has said that the family’s eviction was ordered a month ago and is unrelated to Moe Yan Naing’s testimony, calling the timing of their removal a “coincidence.”
News of the family’s eviction spread rapidly after Tu Tu posted photos on Facebook showing their eviction. Many Myanmar people have spoken out in support of her husband and her family, and many have changed their Facebook profile photos to images of Moe Yan Naing.
