Protesters run while holding homemade shields after tear gas was fired during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on March 1, 2021
Myanmar’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in a court hearing via video link and was charged with additional criminal offences on Monday, as anti-coup protesters rallied across the country again in defiance of a security force crackdown that killed at least 18 people the previous day.
The 75-year-old looked healthy as she took part in the court hearing from the capital, Naypyidaw, and asked to see her legal team, lawyer Min Min Soe told Reuters news agency.
The leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), which swept last November’s now-annulled election, has not been seen in public since her detention on February 1 when the military seized power, alleging widespread electoral fraud.
Shortly afterwards, she was charged with illegally importing six walkie-talkie radios as well as violating a natural disaster law by staging a campaign rally during the coronavirus pandemic.
A third charge, filed on Monday, was under a section of the colonial-era penal code prohibiting the publication of information that may “cause fear or alarm” or disrupt “public tranquillity”, Min Min Soe said.
Another charge was also added under a telecommunications law, the lawyer said, which stipulates that equipment needs a licence.
Khin Maung Zaw, a second lawyer for the deposed leader, said her legal team had not been able to speak to her ahead of the hearing.
Myanmar has been in chaos since the February 1 coup, which brought a halt to the country’s tentative steps towards democracy after nearly 50 years of military rule. It has drawn widespread international condemnation and hundreds of thousands of demonstrators onto the streets of cities and towns across Myanmar.
The next hearing will be on March 15.
As Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in court, police in Yangon fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse protesters gathered at multiple locations throughout the city.
Many of the protesters wore hard hats, while those at the front lines carried makeshift shields to protect themselves from security forces, who killed at least four people in Yangon and wounded dozens more the previous day.
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