Aung San Suu Kyi is strapped for cash, doesn’t know where she is being held and is mostly unaware of the violent unrest in her country, according to her lawyer.
The trial of the ousted 75-year-old Burmese leader will open Monday in Naypyidaw, the Burmese capital, where she faces a growing array of charges against her since the military toppled her government in a stroke.
“She is not aware – I mean she does not have a clear understanding – of what is going on in Burma,” Khin Maung Zaw, her senior lawyer, told the Financial Times, using the ancient name for Myanmar, where the junta arrested thousands and used deadly force to quell an uprising.
He said that Aung San Suu Kyi, held incommunicado since the February 1 coup, was transferred from her ministerial residence in Myanmar’s capital to an unknown location the day before her arrival. first court appearance May 24.
The former Myanmar leader had to leave her home where she lived with her dog Taichito, he said, and asked his legal team for medicine and food “to make ends meet” during a meeting last week.
Relatives of Aung San Suu Kyi, including sons in the UK and the US, have been in contact with the UK Foreign Office, “but do not believe that any message has reached him”, according to a person close to the family, who asked not to be named.
The imprisonment of the former leader and his impending trial by the military regime marks an extraordinary turn of events for the former Nobel laureate and national leader, whose National League for Democracy won electoral landslides in 2015 and 2020. Criminal convictions are said to prevent her from running for office.
“The trial is obviously a sham, and the only reason the military even announced the date is due to international pressure,” said Manny Maung, Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “They would be happy to keep Aung San Suu Kyi detained and out of sight for as long as they can.”
The junta authorities brought five criminal charges against her, including for illegally importing walkie-talkies and an electronic jammer found in her home during her arrest, and for breaking Myanmar’s law on natural disasters by violating Covid-19 regulations during the campaign. ‘last year.
His first court appearance last month was in a room of a government building simulated to resemble a courtroom, in the absence of lawyers.
Last week, regime authorities opened a new corruption investigation against her and three other former officials in connection with allegations of abuse of land and public funds for the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a charity created in the United States. honor of his late mother.
According to a report released by the Global New Light of Myanmar government, Aung San Suu Kyi paid “below reasonable prices for a land lease,” and a residence was built for her with cash contributions from the public. The report also claimed that Myanmar’s ousted leader accepted $ 600,000 and 11.4kg of gold.
His lawyer dismissed the bribery and corruption charges as “absurd” and “baseless”.
“In my experience… I have never met a more honest and incorruptible statesman than Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Khin Maung Zaw. “She may have flaws, but personal greed and corruption are not [among] his features.
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