Fri 02 April 2021:
Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained after the junta seized power on Feb. 1, was charged in a military court Thursday with violating the country’s official secrets law.
Suu Kyi’s lawyer Khin Maung Zaw announced the news while speaking to reporters following the hearing in Yangon.
Her lawyer revealed the fresh accusations as the UN security council was warned that Myanmar was at risk of civil war and an imminent “bloodbath” if military rulers continued to violently repress the protest movement that has emerged since the coup.
The law prohibits the possession, publication or sharing of state-owned information that could benefit the enemies of the country.
A conviction under the law can carry a prison sentence of up to 14 years. A spokesperson for the junta did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, who won the Nobel peace prize in 1991 for her efforts to bring democracy to Myanmar, appeared via video link for a hearing in connection with the earlier charges on Thursday. Another of her lawyers, Min Min Soe, said she appeared to be in good health.
The military court charged Suu Kyi with bribery on March 18, claiming she accepted a $550,000 bribe from a construction company manager in 2018.
She was accused in previous hearings of violating the country’s import and export laws, failing to comply with the National Disaster Management Law and embezzlement.
On Feb. 1, Myanmar’s army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. In response to the coup, civilian groups across the country launched a civil disobedience campaign with mass demonstrations and sit-ins.
Over 500 demonstrators have lost their lives in the armed intervention by security forces.
While large-scale demonstrations are continuing in the country, high-ranking government officials in custody continue to be tried in a military court.
A closed-doors UN security council session was told on Thursday that without action, order in the country could break down.
“I appeal to this council to consider all available tools to take collective action and do what is right, what the people of Myanmar deserve, and prevent a multidimensional catastrophe in the heart of Asia,” the special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, told delegates.
On Saturday the military launched the first airstrikes in Karen state in 20 years after a rebel group seized a military base, raising fears of a return to armed conflict in the ethnically diverse nation.
“The military’s cruelty is too severe and many [armed ethnic fighters] are taking clear stances of opposition, increasing the possibility of civil war at an unprecedented scale,” Burgener said. “Failure to prevent further escalation of atrocities will cost the world so much more in the longer term than investing now in prevention.”
