Sean Turnell: Myanmar military denies releasing detained Australian economist

Myanmar’s military-led government has denied releasing detained Australian economics professor Sean Turnell after Cambodia said he had been freed.

Mr Turnell, an economics professor at Sydney’s Macquarie University, was arrested after the 1 February 2021 coup in Myanmar, where he was working as an economic adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi.

He has been charged with violating Myanmar’s immigration and official secrets acts and is facing the prospect of a 14 year prison sentence if found guilty.

Cambodia’s leader Hun Sen earlier on Monday claimed the Myanmar junta had released the professor at the Cambodian prime minister’s behest - following a request by the Australian government - according to a tweet shared by his office.

Myanmar junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tum, however, denied that Mr Turnell, had been released. He said Myanmar’s military leader had discussed the professor’s situtation during a recent visit to Cambodia.

“Regarding this matter, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said he would think about it after his legal case is finished,” he told AFP.

Hun Sen later apologised on Facebook for making an “unintentional mistake”.

“In reality, the Australian national was not released,” he said in a Facebook post late on Monday. “The confusion is because of me getting information wrong,

The Australian government called for the release of Mr Turnell from detention, as his family marked the one-year anniversary of his arrest.

“Professor Turnell’s detention is unjust, and we reject the allegations against him,” foreign minister Marise Payne said in a statement on Sunday. “We once again call for Professor Turnell’s immediate release.”

The exact details of charges against Mr Turnell have not been released while local reports said he is facing trial for trying to flee the country and had access to “secret state financial information”.

Dr Ha Vu, Mr Turnell’s wife who is an economist, spoke to ABC News in an interview marking her husband’s year-long detention.

She said that he will “finally have a chance to prove his innocence and he will be returning home as soon as possible”.

“It has been a year, and in our wildest dream or imagination, we never ever thought we would face this kind of challenge,” she said.

Mr Turnell is among about 11,000 people detained since the coup, acccording to campaigners.

The agitation that started with protests has turned into a civil war across Myanmar, with a military crackdown and mass killings of more than 1,500 civilians since 4 February 2021, according to a local monitor group.

Last week, the Myanmar police filed an 11th corruption charge against Ms Suu Kyi under the anti-corruption law covering bribery, local media reported.

The Nobel laureate is on trial in more than a dozen cases that collectively carry a maximum sentence of more than 150 years and has been sentenced to a combined six years in detention by a court in the capital Naypyidaw.

The 76-year-old has denied these charges.