NAYPYIDAW: Former Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, indicted on multiple occasions by the junta, appeared on Monday for the first time since the coup in person in court, defying the generals who toppled her.
Security forces had been deployed in large numbers for the occasion around the grounds of the court specially set up in the capital Naypyidaw to try the former head of government, according to a journalist.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, under house arrest and who had not been seen in public since her arrest on February 1, appears “in good health,” authorized lawyer Min Min Soe said with colleagues, to meet her for 30 minutes.
Before the hearing, she opted for an attitude of defiance in the face of the putschists, asserting that “her party, the National League for Democracy (LND), will exist as long as the people exist, because it was founded for the people”, according to comments reported by his lawyer.
The Burmese generals are threatening to dissolve this political formation which overwhelmingly won the legislative elections of 2020, alleging fraud during this election.
A decision could soon be announced on this subject, the electoral commission, close to the regime, having indicated that its investigation was almost completed.
Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her long struggle against previous military dictatorships, is among more than 4,000 people detained since the coup.
Indicted six times since her arrest, she faces numerous charges ranging from unlawful possession of walkie-talkies to inciting public unrest and violating a state secrets law.
If found guilty, she could be banned from politics, even sentenced to years in prison.
A next hearing is scheduled for June 7, said Min Min Soe, who also met with former President of the Republic Win Myint, arrested along with Aung San Suu Kyi.
For Richard Horsey, of the NGO International Crisis Group, the fact of having finally allowed her to meet her lawyers shows that “the regime feels more confident, despite the extent of the crisis and the resistance under way”.
Intense fighting between army and insurgents
At the same time, an American journalist working in Burma was arrested Monday at Yangon airport as he was about to board a plane to Malaysia, his employers said.
Frontier Myanmar’s editorial manager Danny Fenster “was arrested this morning at Yangon International Airport,” the media outlet said on his Twitter account. “We don’t know why Danny was arrested and we haven’t been able to be in contact with him since this morning,” Frontier said.
Demonstrations, economy partly paralyzed by massive strikes, Internet access suspended, broadcasting authorizations withdrawn from the media: Burma has been in turmoil since the putsch of February 1.
The protest movement is bloodily suppressed by the security forces who have killed at least 818 civilians, including women and children in recent months, according to the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners (AAPP).
Tens of thousands of Burmese have also been displaced by clashes between the army and ethnic militias, which are numerous in their country.
On Sunday, intense fighting broke out between the soldiers and one of them: the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), established in particular in the state of Kayah (east).
The army used helicopters and tanks against the insurgents and fighting continued into the night from Sunday to Monday, according to a KNPP official.
Four people taking refuge in a church were killed in the bombings, according to the spokesperson for a local group which coordinates the evacuations.
The bloody repression of the army also led opponents of the junta to form a “People’s Defense Force” (PDF), made up of civilians armed with homemade weapons.
At least thirty soldiers and police officers were killed this weekend in clashes in the east with the PDF, according to several members of this organization, on condition of anonymity.
For his part, questioned about his projects by the Hong Kong television channel Phoenix TV, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said he had “no idea”.
But, according to a local medial, the regime has just removed the age limit for the retirement of generals, which allows him to remain in office even after his 65th birthday in July.
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