Myanmar Junta Files Charges Against Exiled Dissidents and Media, Seeks Interpol Red Notices

Myanmar’s military junta has opened criminal cases against overseas dissidents, political opposition figures, and independent media organizations, and is seeking Interpol Red Notices for their arrest, according to a senior official.

Min Thu, deputy minister for the junta’s Ministry of Home Affairs, disclosed the measures on October 6 in the military-controlled Pyithu Hluttaw (lower house), responding to an inquiry from Than Than Aye, a lawmaker with the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), regarding legal actions against exiled figures accused of undermining state sovereignty.

Min Thu stated that the junta charged members of the CRPH, the shadow NUG, the PDF, and their political and financial supporters.

He also named prominent independent media outlets operating in exile, including Mizzima, Myanmar Now, Khit Thit, The Irrawaddy, and the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB).

The junta official stated that cases have been logged at military-controlled police stations and courts under various provisions of the Penal Code—including sections 124A (sedition), 505(b), and 505A—alongside section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act, section 33(a) of the Electronic Transactions Law, and sections 50(a) and 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law.

Min Thu explained that after the warrants were issued, the junta requested to ASEANAPOL and Interpol to issue Red Notices and facilitate international arrests.

However, he acknowledged that extraditing key figures depends heavily on the political stance of foreign governments, noting that most international transfers to date have involved drug-related offenses.

Additionally, the regime is actively invalidating passports, blacklisting dissidents, and placing individuals on watchlists. Junta embassies abroad have submitted over 1,300 names to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for administrative action.

Interpol explicitly states that a Red Notice is a request for worldwide law enforcement to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, not an international arrest warrant. Under Article 3 of its constitution, Interpol is strictly prohibited from undertaking any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious, or racial character.