Mr. Turnell, 57, is an economics professor and Myanmar expert at Macquarie University in Sydney, who joined Aung San Suu Kyi as an economic adviser after she was elected in 2015 and started the government. its government. His focus is on establishing a stable economy and a sound banking system to attract foreign investment and create jobs.
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He is now among more than 15,000 political prisoners arrested since the coup, according to the Association to Support Political Prisoners, an independent monitoring group. Also in the trial were three former members of the finance ministry, U Kyaw Win, U Soe Win and U Set Aung. Two other foreigners are serving time in prison in Myanmar on unrelated charges: Vicky Bowman, 56, a former British ambassador, and Turo Kubota, 26, a Japanese documentary filmmaker, were arrested after coverage of a protest.
Ms. Bowman was British ambassador to Myanmar from 2002 to 2006, and in 2013 founded the Myanmar Center for Responsible Business, which promotes good business practices. She and her Burmese husband, U Htein Lin, a famous artist and former political prisoner, was arrested 24 and was sentenced to one year in prison for breaking immigration laws by living at an unregistered address.
In another unrelated action, Myanmar on Wednesday sentenced a former model and doctor, Nang Mwe San, to six years in prison for posting provocative photos and videos of her on pornographic websites. In a statement, the female soldier said she “distributed paid pornographic photos and videos that may harm Myanmar’s culture and dignity.”
In one Interview with The New York Times in 2019When she was stripped of her medical license, Mwe San said: “No matter what I face, I will not give up my modeling career. I just love being a photo model.” Because she was tried in a local military court, she was not allowed to work as a lawyer and was sentenced less than two weeks after her initial trial.
