Junta to start case against Suu Kyi next week
Naypyitaw (Myanmar), June 8: Myanmar’s military junta will begin presenting its case against deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi and two others in the Naypyitaw court next Monday, her lawyers have said. The military arrested Suu Kyi in February when it overthrew her elected government, even as public resistance to the coup remains strong. In recent months, it has taken the form of a lowlevel armed insurrection.
Khin Maung Zaw, a senior member of Suu Kyi’s legal team, said she is being tried on five charges in the court in capital Naypyitaw, where the government prosecutors will have to finish their presentation by June 28.
After this, Suu Kyi’s defence team will have time until July 26 to present its case, Zaw told journalists after a procedural hearing on Monday for Suu Kyi and two fellow defendants, ousted president Win Myint and former Naypyitaw Mayor Myo Aung.
The court sessions are being held every Monday and Tuesday. Suu Kyi and her two co-defendants have been charged with spreading information that could cause public alarm or unrest.
Suu Kyi also faces two counts of violating the Natural Disaster Management Law for allegedly breaking the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign, besides charges of illegally importing walkie-talkies for her bodyguards, and unlicenced use of radios.
A sixth charge that Suu Kyi faces is the most serious one: Breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a penalty of up to 14 years’ imprisonment.
It has been handled separately from the other charges and was filed in a court in Yangon, the country’s biggest city. It was recently transferred to the Union Supreme Court in Naypyitaw, said San Mar La Nyunt, another of her lawyers. Her supporters say the charges against her are politically motivated.