Kim Aris tells the Guardian chance to speak with detained Nobel laureate was ‘public relations’ move from military leaders

Myanmar’s former democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be in good physical and mental health but is living in near-complete isolation, her son has said after the first call with his 81-year-old mother in more than five years.

“She still sounds certainly all there mentally, and physically she sounds strong,” Kim Aris said. “I don’t think she has anybody outside of the military or the police around her, so essentially she’s been held in solitary confinement from what I gather.”

Kim Aris says ‘hearing her voice again means more than words can express’ amid loosening of detention restrictions

The son of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi has been allowed to speak to the detained former democratic leader for the first time in more than five years.

“Today, I was finally able to speak with my mother, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, after more than five years. Hearing her voice again means more than words can express,” Kim Aris said in a post on Facebook on Thursday.