Myanmar’s ousted leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi appeared at the Naypyitaw’s court and deny the charge of incitement made by the junta as she testified on her own behalf since she was detained during the 1 February coup¹. U Win Htein, the detained patron of the NLD party, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for high treason over a press conference where he condemned the Feb. 1 coup.

The junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) has instructed its Sub-Election Commissions to take action against individuals who cast two or more ballots using the same citizenship card in the 2020 General Elections.
The Southeast Asian summit was conducted without Myanmar’s junta representative as they refused to send a representative saying it would only agree to its leader or a minister attending, following ASEAN offered to accept a non-political representative from Myanmar. US President Joe Biden expressed grave concerns about horrific violence in Myanmar and called on the country's military junta to immediately end the violence, release those unjustly detained, and restore Burma's path to democracy, at a summit with ASEAN leaders.

Junta army troops bombarded the Chin State town of Thantlang, more than 160 homes and two of Thantlang’s churches, and some 20 children are feared to be trapped in an orphanage. Myanmar's junta accused anti-coup fighters for attacking the town of Thantlang in Chin State after security forces had clashed with their fighters.

The parallel National Unity Government (NUG) will issue and sell Spring Revolution special treasury bonds, which will be valid for two years and will be sold as interest-free bonds that are worth US $1,000 million.

Noeleen Heyzer, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific was appointed as the new United Nations special envoy on Myanmar, the successor to Christine Schraner Burgener. She worked closely with ASEAN, the Government of Myanmar and the United Nations in the recovery efforts following Cyclone Nargis and led a dialogue with Myanmar’s leaders on development and poverty reduction

The US National Security Advisor met with representatives of Myanmar's National Unity Government (NUG) in the virtual meeting and discussed the ongoing efforts to restore the country's path to democracy.

According to the junta newspaper, the military junta led by Min Aung Hlaing met with Russian representatives led by the Deputy Chief Officer of the Navy on a Russian military vessel at Thilawa Harbour in Yangon and discussed matters on exchange of information and technology for maritime security between the two countries.

The decision on the bail application of an American journalist Danny Fenster has been delayed as the judge broke his arm. According to an investigation by the Associated Press, Myanmar's military used systematic torture on detainees across the country since it took over the government in February². Norway’s telecom company Telenor was still awaiting the Myanmar authorities' approval for the sale of its business in Myanmar.

Protests continued in different parts of Myanmar despite the crackdown by the junta over the week. The clashes between the junta forces and the civil resistance fighters or Ethnic Armed Organizations also emerged in all states and regions except Rakhine State. The Chair of Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) said to join hands with any anti-junta organizations to put an end to the dictatorship as it would be more difficult to uproot Burmese ethnocentrism and the military junta in the future. NUG has formed the Central Command and Coordination Committee (C3C) including leaders from the NUG and EAOs to engage with civilian resistance groups across the country to fight against the junta.

According to the information compiled by ANFREL, at least 62 bomb blasts happened across Myanmar in the past week³. It was reported that at least 53 people were injured and 4 died. 14 Mytel telecom masts were destroyed across the country⁴.

As of 30 October, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) recorded that 1,222 people have been killed by the junta. 7,024 people are currently under detention and 300 are sentenced. 65 have been sentenced to death and 1,954 are evading arrest warrants⁵.

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[1] https://www.myanmar-now.org/en/news/suu-kyi-takes-the-stand-in-court-for-the-first-time-since-her-arrest
[2] https://www.mizzima.com/article/ap-investigation-claims-myanmars-military-uses-systematic-torture
[3] Annexure I
[4] Annexure II
[5] https://aappb.org/?p=18494

Download the full update here: "Myanmar Situation Update (25-31 October 2021)"