Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

‘Tired’ Suu Kyi wants hearings in court reduced

- letters@hindustant­imes.com

Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday asked a judge to reduce the frequency of her court hearings due to strained health, her lawyer said, but assured the public there was no concern about her condition.

Suu Kyi, who is on trial and attending court sessions in multiple cases since her overthrow in a February 1 coup, requested hearings in each case be handled every two weeks, not every week, chief lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told media.

Asked by Reuters about the status of her health, he said Suu Kyi, 76, was suffering from tiredness from her busy schedule and there was no indication of illness. “She is tired. At her age, it is not convenient to sit for hearings every day of the whole week,” Khin Maung Zaw said by phone. “She doesn’t have any disease nor specified sickness. It is not a concerning situation. She is just tired.”

Asean disappoint­ed at junta’s commitment

Southeast Asian countries on Monday voiced disappoint­ment about army-ruled Myanmar’s commitment to an agreed peace plan, with one foreign minister saying he was concerned about the junta leader attending a regional summit later this month. “There’s been no significan­t progress in Myanmar. The military has not given a positive response to what has been attempted by the special envoy,” Indonesian foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, told a news conference following a meeting of regional counterpar­ts.

“Most members expressed disappoint­ment,” she said. “Some countries expressed that Asean cannot act business as usual... when looking into this developmen­t.”

Meanwhile, a US journalist who has spent more than four months in pretrial detention in Myanmar has been charged with a second criminal offence, his lawyer said on Monday, while authoritie­s refused to disclose the reason behind his arrest. Danny Fenster, managing editor of the Yangon-based online news and business magazine Frontier Myanmar, has been charged under the Unlawful Associatio­ns Act, said lawyer Than Zaw Aung.

 ?? AFP ?? Aung San Suu Kyi
AFP Aung San Suu Kyi

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