Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi appears in court for first time since military coup

Myanmar’s former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has appeared in court in person for the first time since her government was overthrown by the military in February.

The hearing, in the capital Naypyidaw, was immediately adjourned. The former leader faces several charges including violating a state secrets law.

Before the hearing, Ms Suu Kyi was allowed to meet her lawyers in person for the first time.

She has been held under house arrest for the 16 weeks since she was deposed.

Khin Maung Zaw (R) and Min Min Soe (L), lawyers representing detained Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, address members of the media at Khin Maung Zaw's house in Naypyidaw on May 24, 2021, as Suu Kyi made her first in-person court appearance since the military coup in February.

Myanmar’s military has accused Ms Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, of fraud in the general election it won last November.

Independent election monitors say the election was largely free and fair, and the charges against Ms Suu Kyi have been widely criticised as politically motivated.

Myanmar’s military has brutally cracked down on pro-democracy protesters since the February coup, killing more than 800 people and detaining more than 4,000, according to the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

Anti-military coup protesters take a moment of silence to show the respect to the people who died during the summer revolution. A massive crowd took to the streets of Nankham to protest against the military coup and demanded the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. More than 769 people died since the military coup in February 1. — image caption Protesters hold a moment of silence in Nankham for those killed by the military since the February coup

The six charges against Ms Suu Kyi, 75, also include illegally importing handheld radios and breaching coronavirus rules. She was allowed 30 minutes with her lawyers on Monday before the hearing was adjourned.

They said she appeared to be in good health at the meeting in the capital Nay Pyi Taw, but had no access to news media during her house arrest and had limited knowledge of what was happening in the country.

Ms Suu Kyi “wished people good health”, her lawyers said. She also made a reference to threats by the military to dissolve her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

“Our party grew out of the people so it will exist as long as people support it”, she said, according to one of her lawyers, Khin Maung Zaw.

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Myanmar in profile

Myanmar, also known as Burma, became independent from Britain in 1948. For much of its modern history it has been under military rule
Restrictions began loosening from 2010 onwards, leading to free elections in 2015 and the installation of a government led by veteran opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi the following year
In 2017, Myanmar’s army responded to attacks on police by Rohingya militants with a deadly crackdown, driving more than half a million Rohingya Muslims across the border into Bangladesh in what the UN later called a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”