Police in Yangon’s Bahan township have formally opened a case relating to a raid on the headquarters of the National League for Democracy (NLD) late Tuesday night, according to an MP from the party.
Representatives of the party appeared at the Bahan township police station on Wednesday to press charges against those who carried out the raid, which they said violated their rights as a legally registered political organization.
Police initially rejected the case, saying that there was no evidence that force had been used to enter the premises, but later relented and agreed to carry out an investigation.
At present, however, nobody has been charged in connection with the case, NLD upper house lawmaker Soe Lay told Myanmar Now.
“The acceptance of this case by police is the first step to success. I suppose they will thoroughly investigate it next and determine whether an offense has been committed or not, and who committed it. Then it will be up to the courts to keep working on this,” he said.
Security cameras installed at the NLD headquarters show that around 15 security personnel in military and police uniforms broke through the front door of the office at around 9pm on Tuesday.
The party said that a number of documents and electronic devices were taken during the raid, along with items stored in a safe. Wires connected to communication devices were also cut, according to Soe Lay.
Myanmar Now attempted to reach out to the police for comment on the case, but has yet to receive a reply.
The property that went missing in the raid included a number of items belonging to Thein Oo, an NLD central executive committee member who was among those arrested at the start of the coup on February 1.
Thein Oo, who was later released, was one of 11 witnesses who filed the charges on Wednesday.
Other senior party leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint, remain in custody after being detained in pre-dawn raids carried out just hours before parliament was set to convene last week.
Win Myint, who was forced to step down as president, was immediately replaced by Myint Swe, the military’s pick for vice-president. As the acting president, Myint Swe declared a state of emergency and invited the military to assume power under the leadership of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
The reason given for the coup was the military’s alleged concerns about voter fraud in last November’s general election, which the NLD won in a landslide.
The election delivered a humiliating defeat to the military’s proxy party, which called for the results to be annulled and for the election to be held again under military supervision.
