Myanmar court files more charges against Suu Kyi
Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared at a court hearing via video conferencing on Monday as supporters marched in several towns and cities in defiance of a crackdown after the bloodiest day since the Feb. 1 military coup.
Police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of protesters in the main city of Yangon on Monday, witnesses said. They later combed through side streets firing rubber bullets and at least one person was hurt, media reported.
In an evening address on state television, army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said protest leaders and "instigators" would be punished. The army was also investigating financial abuse by the civilian government, he said.
Suu Kyi, 75, looked in good health during her appearance before a court in the capital Naypyidaw, one of her lawyers said. Two more charges were added to those filed against her after the coup, she said.
"I saw Amay on the video, she looks healthy," lawyer Min Min Soe told Reuters, using an affectionate term meaning "mother" to refer to Suu Kyi. "She asked to meet her lawyer."
The Nobel Peace laureate, who leads the National League for Democracy (NLD), has not been seen in public since her government was toppled and she was detained along with other party leaders.
She was initially charged with illegally importing six walkie-talkie radios. Later, a charge of violating a natural disaster law by breaching coronavirus protocols was added.
On Monday, two more charges were added, one under a section of a colonialera penal code banning publication of information that may "cause fear or alarm", the other under a telecommunications law stipulating licences for equipment, the lawyer said.
The next hearing will be on March 15. Critics of the coup say the charges were trumped up.
Myanmar has been in chaos since the military seized power after alleging fraud in a November election that the NLD won in a landslide, with daily protests getting increasingly violent as police and troops try to stamp them out.
In his speech, read out by a newsreader on state-run MRTV, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said action would be taken against civil servants refusing to work for the junta.
He said the military was investigating what he called corruption by the civilian government, accusing the authorities of misusing money meant for COVID-19 prevention efforts.
"The respective ministries are working to find out such financial abuse," he said, adding that action would be taken against organizations where foreign currency funds were found.
He said a committee formed by ousted lawmakers from the civilian government, which has announced the formation of a government-in-exile, was illegal and anyone associated with it would be punished.
PARIS — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of corruption on Monday and sentenced to three years in prison, a stunning fall from grace for a man who for five years bestrode the national and global stage.
A Paris court found that Sarkozy, 66, had tried to bribe a judge after leaving office, and to peddle influence in exchange for confidential information about an investigation into his 2007 campaign finances.
"He took advantage of his status and the relationships he had formed," presiding judge Christine Mee said.
Sarkozy served as president from 2007 to 2012 and retains influence among conservatives, even after retiring. He is the second head of state in modern-day France to be convicted of corruption.
He may not spend any time in prison, however. Two years of his sentence were suspended, and Mee said she was open to him staying out of prison tagged with an electronic bracelet for the remaining year, although that decision rests with another judge.
The court found that Sarkozy had offered to secure a plum job in Monaco for a judge, Gilbert Azibert, in return for inside information about an inquiry into allegations that he had accepted illegal payments from L'oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt for his 2007 presidential campaign.
Sarkozy left the court without speaking, but his lawyer said he would appeal, and prove his innocence.
"This ruling is extremely severe and wholly unjustified," Jacqueline Laffont told reporters.
Sarkozy had burst onto the world stage as a reformer full of ideas who wanted to break with France's stagnant past on the domestic front and restore the birthplace of human rights to a place of prominence in international affairs.
He earned himself the nickname of the Gallic Thatcher, undertaking market-driven reforms such as raising the retirement age, loosening the 35-hour work week and adjusting the tax system to encourage overtime.
Outside France, he brokered a ceasefire to the Russia-georgia war in 2008, and in 2011 championed a NATO-LED military intervention in Libya to support an uprising against its autocratic leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
Investigators had been wiretapping conversations between Sarkozy and his lawyer Thierry Herzog from 2013 as they delved into allegations of Libyan financing of Sarkozy's 2007 campaign.
As they did, they learned that Sarkozy and his lawyer were communicating using mobile phones registered under false names.
Sarkozy said he had become the victim of a witch-hunt by financial prosecutors who had used excessive means to snoop on him.
Asked by Reuters if Sarkozy's conviction could pose a risk to his position as member of Lagardère's supervisory group, a spokesman for the media group said: "We are delighted with Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy's contribution and personal investment in Lagardère's supervisory board."
The former French president is also an independent director of French hotel giant Accor.
Herzog and Azibert, who were on trial alongside him, were also found guilty of corruption and influencepeddling.
"Such behaviour can only seriously undermine the legitimate trust that the public must have in the justice system," Mee said.
Sarkozy and his centreright party Les Republicains have long said the investigations against him are politically motivated.
The only other president of the Fifth Republic to be convicted by a court was Sarkozy's conservative predecessor, the late Jacques Chirac, who was found guilty of corruption in 2011.
Sarkozy is due in court again later this month, on charges of violating campaign financing rules during his failed 2012 re-election bid.
Prosecutors are also investigating allegations that Gaddafi provided Sarkozy's 2007 campaign with millions of euros shipped to Paris in suitcases.
Sarkozy denies both allegations.