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Myanmar's detained Suu Kyi asks court to meet her lawyers

Suu Kyi, who has been held in detention since the coup, appeared for a court hearing on a video link. One more charge was filed against her, related to a natural disaster law, lawyer Min Min Soe said.

News Desk (Reuters)
Yangon, Myanmar
Mon, April 12, 2021

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Myanmar's detained Suu Kyi asks court to meet her lawyers Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (right) and Win Htein, chief executive committee members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), attend the funeral service for the party's former chairman Aung Shwe in Yangon on August 17, 2017. (Agence France Presse/AFP)

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he leader of Myanmar's ousted government, Aung San Suu Kyi, asked a court on Monday to be allowed to meet her lawyers in person as she faces charges filed since she was overthrown in a Feb. 1 coup, one of her lawyers said.

Suu Kyi, who has been held in detention since the coup, appeared for a court hearing on a video link. One more charge was filed against her, related to a natural disaster law, lawyer Min Min Soe said.

The next hearing is set for April 26.

Meanwhile, opponents of Myanmar's coup called on Monday for people to show defiance of the military with costumes and prayers over the upcoming new year holiday, hoping to maintain the momentum of their campaign in which more than 700 people have been killed.

The traditional new year, known as Thingyan in Myanmar, is the most important holiday of the year and is usually celebrated with prayers, ritual cleaning of Buddha images in temples and high-spirited water throwing on the streets.

"The military council doesn't own Thingyan. The power of people is in the hands of people," Ei Thinzar Maung, a leader of the General Strike Collaboration Committee protest group, wrote on Facebook.

"The people united need to hold a people's Thingyan," Ei Thinzar Maung said.

She called for Buddhists to wear certain religious attire and to recite prayers together and for members of small Christian communities to wear white and read psalms. She said followers of other religions should follow the lead of their leaders.

The holiday runs from April 13 to April 17, which is New Year's Day.

Security forces have killed 706 protesters, including 46 children, since the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a Feb. 1 coup, according to a tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group.

That included 82 people killed in the town of Bago, about 70 km (45 miles) northeast of Yangon, on Friday, which the AAPP called a "killing field".

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