The Myanmar army staged a coup on Feb. 1 after Suu Kyi achieved a major election victory. Election fraud is said to have been committed, but independent observers see no evidence of this. Since then, the country has been in chaos.
Many hundreds of people have been killed in the ongoing protests, which the army is brutally crushing. Rebel groups across the country have also taken up arms. More than four thousand people have been arrested.
Suu Kyi, 75, has been convicted of six crimes, including illegally importing walkie-talkies for her security and violating corona rules during the 2020 election campaign. The most serious charge is that she violated a state secrets law, for which she 14 years in prison. This charge is being dealt with by another court.
According to her supporters, the trial is intended to politically eliminate Suu Kyi. If she is found guilty on one of the charges, she will probably no longer be able to run in the elections that the military junta says it wants to hold in one to two years.
The session took place in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital. Images from state television show that she is sitting upright with her hands in her lap and a face mask on.
One of her lawyers told Reuters news agency that Suu Kyi was able to speak to her defense for half an hour and looked healthy. Until now, she was only present by video connection at previous hearings and was also not allowed to physically speak to her lawyers.
The lawyers also spoke to former president of Suu Kyi’s government, Win Myint, against whom similar charges have been filed. Other former government leaders have also been detained.
Militant
Since the coup, the resistance has become increasingly militant. An armed rebel group claimed to have killed at least 20 police officers in the town of Moebyel on Sunday. State television did not report this and the military junta did not respond.
Myanmar was a military dictatorship for decades. A series of reforms have been implemented from 2010 onwards. Suu Kyi, who had fought for democracy in Myanmar for years and received the Nobel Peace Prize for this, was released again and was elected head of government.
The Constitution stipulates that the army will have at least a quarter of the parliamentary seats and will be in charge of various ministries. As a result, the military retained a lot of power.
When the military launched a counter-terrorism operation against the Rohingya, it culminated in massacres, rape and destruction. International outrage also focused on Suu Kyi, who barely distanced himself from the army.
After Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won last November’s elections by force majeure, and the army just lost, the military staged the coup.
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