Suu Kyi faces another charge as Myanmar crackdown intensifies
UN warns of severe consequences for junta’s heavy-handed response to protests
YANGON: Police in Myanmar filed a new charge against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her lawyer said on Tuesday, in a move that may allow her to be held indefinitely without trial as part of an intensifying crackdown by authorities who seized power in a coup.
Suu Kyi already faced a charge of illegally possessing walkietalkies — an apparent attempt to provide a legal veneer for her house arrest. The new charge was for breaking a law that has been used to prosecute people who have violated coronavirus restrictions, lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told reporters after meeting with a judge in a c
ourt in the capital, Naypyitaw. It carries a maximum punishment of three years in prison. But, perhaps more worryingly, because of changes to the Penal Code instituted by the junta last week, it could allow her to be detained indefinitely without court permission.
The legal manoeuvre comes two weeks after the military seized power in a coup that shocked many in the international community who had been hopeful that Myanmar was taking steps toward democracy.
Since then, the junta has ratcheted up the pressure on protesters resisting the takeover, including violently breaking up some demonstrations and ordering internet access blocked.
On Monday, security forces pointed guns at a group of 1,000 demonstrators and attacked them with slingshots and sticks in the city of Mandalay. Local media reported that police also fired rubber bullets into a crowd and that a few people were injured.
Protests continued on Tuesday in Yangon, the country’s largest city, and elsewhere. In Yangon, police blocked off the street in front of the Central Bank, which protesters have targeted amid speculation online that the military is seeking to seize money from it. Buddhist monks demonstrated outside the UN’s local office in the city.
Around 3,000 demonstrators — mainly students — returned to the streets of Mandalay, carrying posters of Suu Kyi and shouting for the return of democracy.
The protests are taking place in defiance of an order banning gatherings of five or more people. But the security presence was low-key around the march after Monday’s confrontations.
Suu Kyi’s lawyer told reporters he did not arrive at the court in time to see a videoconference the judge said had been held with her. That videoconference had not been expected, the lawyer said, adding that he has not yet seen his client.
UN Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener spoke on Monday to the deputy head of the junta in what has become a rare channel of communication between the army and the outside world, urging restraint and the restoration of communications. “Ms Schraner Burgener has reinforced that the right of peaceful assembly must fully be respected and that demonstrators are not subjected to reprisals,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq said at the United Nations.
“She has conveyed to the Myanmar military that the world is watching closely, and any form of heavy-handed response is likely to have severe consequences.”