YANGON: Myanmar's foreign ministry said it summoned Germany's top resident diplomat on Tuesday (Nov 10) over a Facebook video calling for authorities to "unconditionally release" ousted politicians, including Aung San Suu Kyi.
Germany's mission head Mathias Licharz posted the video on Sunday, standing outside the former Yangon residence of Win Myint, the figurehead president of Suu Kyi's government who was removed in a 2021 coup.
The junta behind the coup organised elections installing a nominally civilian government this spring, although analysts regard it as a fig leaf for ongoing military rule.
Licharz said in his message, scheduled for Win Myint's 75th birthday, that the United Nations still regards him as the "legitimate president" of Myanmar.
Myanmar's foreign ministry said Licharz was summoned for a meeting with deputy minister Ko Ko Kyaw, "warned against the video" and handed an aide-memoire.
"Should the Chargé d'Affaires choose to recognise U Win Myint as President and wish to discontinue his service in Myanmar, the Ministry would have no objection," a statement using a Myanmar male honorific said.
Myanmar has been riven by civil war since the 2021 coup, as pro-democracy guerrillas rose up and long-simmering ethnic minority insurgencies challenging central rule boiled over.
The foreign ministry statement accused Licharz of "intentional conduct" that "appeared to fuel opposition to the host country and its Government, thereby inciting internal unrest".
"The Deputy Minister strongly warned against recurrence of such act and informed him that any similar conduct would be treated with utmost seriousness and would take appropriate actions," it said.
Germany's embassy in Myanmar did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Win Myint was jailed in the February 2021 coup, ending Myanmar's decade-long democratic experiment.
Authorities said in April he had been pardoned of his post-coup convictions - charges that supporters and analysts say were confected to oust the government.
However, Licharz said in his video message his efforts to meet Win Myint had been unfruitful.
"There is only one conclusion," he said. "U Wint Myint is not a free man. He's not allowed to meet with whom he would like to meet and he's not allowed to communicate independently."
Suu Kyi remains detained but was moved to house arrest in the capital Naypyidaw this year, authorities say, where access to the 81-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate remains tightly controlled.
Licharz called for authorities to "unconditionally release all those who are arbitrarily detained including U Win Myint and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi". (Daw is a Myanmar female honorific.) - AFP
