BREAKING NEWS : Naypyidaw, 7 June 2021: The trial of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will begin next Monday, 14 June. Her lawyer told the news agency AFP that she faces a range of charges including the flouting of Covid-19 restrictions during last year’s election campaign, the possession of unlicensed walkie-talkies and violating the country’s Official Secrets Act.
Suu Kyi’s government was ousted in a coup on 1 February, amid accusations of electoral fraud, and she was taken to an undisclosed location. The coup led to weeks of protests that have left hundreds of people dead. Human rights groups put the death toll at over 800. The Myanmar junta says that figure has been exaggerated and is closer to 300.
According to AFP, the 75 year old’s trial will run until 26 July, with witnesses giving testimony. It quoted her lawyer as saying that he has only been allowed to meet with her twice since she was placed under house arrest.
During Myanmar’s previous military regime, Suu Kyi spent 15 years under house arrest before being released owing to international pressure. She went onto win the country’s first democratic election and won a landslide again last year, but her tenure has been plagued by international criticism of her treatment of the ethnic muslim Royhinga community, which has seen thousands of people flee their homes to refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh.
