G7 states, EU jointly condemn coup in Myanmar

BERLIN (AA) - The G7 group of world’s major economic powers and the EU on Wednesday released a joint statement to denounce the coup in Myanmar and called on the military to release all those “unjustly detained”.

“We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and the High Representative of the European Union, are united in condemning the coup in Myanmar,” the joint statement said.

The foreign ministers criticized the detention of political leaders and civil society activists, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, and also voiced concern over military’s actions against media organizations.

“We call upon the military to immediately end the state of emergency, restore power to the democratically elected government, to release all those unjustly detained and to respect human rights and the rule of law,” the statement said.

“The November election results must be respected and parliament should be convened at the earliest opportunity.”

The foreign ministers also recalled their 2019 communique, in which they restated their commitment to Myanmar’s democratic transition, peace and accountability for human rights violations and abuses.

“We stand with the people of Myanmar who want to see a democratic future,” the ministers said.

Myanmar’s military, officially known as the Tatmadaw, declared a state of emergency on Monday, hours after detaining the country’s de facto leader Suu Kyi and other senior members of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

The coup took place hours before the first session of the country’s new parliament was set to convene following elections last November in which Suu Kyi’s NLD party made sweeping gains.

The military claimed the coup was staged due to “election fraud” in the polls, which it said resulted in the dominance of the NLD in the parliament.