(Reuters) – An Australian couple has been released from house arrest in Myanmar and allowed to leave the country without charge, one of the two business advisers said on Sunday.
Christa Avery and her husband Matthew O’Kane were not allowed to leave Myanmar last month when they were about to board a flight home.
The country has been in crisis since a military coup on February 1 that ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
“I am, of course, incredibly relieved to have been released and to be coming home with my husband, Matt,” Avery said in a statement.
“Even though I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong, it was very stressful to be kept under house arrest for two weeks.”
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it had provided support for the departure of the Yangon couple on April 4.
“We welcome your release,” said a department representative in an e-mailed statement.
Another Australian, Sean Turnell, Suu Kyi’s economic adviser, is in detention shortly after the army took power and is in prison.
“I hope that even if Sean can’t be released very soon, he can at least be taken to house arrest for his physical, mental and emotional well-being,” said Avery.
Authorities said Turnell is under investigation, but no charges have been filed against him. A lawyer for Suu Kyi said last week that he understood that Turnell was facing charges under the Official Secrets Act, but no charges have been confirmed.
More than 2,500 people have been detained since the coup, according to the monitoring group of the Association of Assistance for Political Prisoners.
Reporting by Matthew Tostevin; Additional reporting in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Frances Kerry and Stephen Coates