Myanmar marks coup anniversary with trial date for Aung San Suu Kyi and new charges
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Myanmar witnessed “silent strikes” on the anniversary of the military junta’s takeover of the government even as a court said on Monday that the trial of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the election fraud case will start on 14 February.
Streets in some of the country’s main cities were deserted as activists asked people to stay indoors and businesses to close in a silent protest against the junta on the first anniversary of the military takeover.
Nobel Laureate Suu Kyi was arrested last year on 1 February along with other elected leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) as they were accused of rigging the elections by the military generals.
Ms Suu Kyi is on trial in more than a dozen cases that collectively carry a maximum sentence of more than 150 years, and has been sentenced to a combined six years in detention by a court in the capital Naypyitaw.
The 76-year-old has denied these charges.
The United States, the UK and Canada also imposed new sanctions on Myanmar’s military after a year of protests. Ms Suu Kyi’s arrest and the subsequent takeover of the democratically elected government by the junta was widely met with massive protests all across the country.
One year since Myanmar’s military overturned a democratically elected civilian Government, human rights & humanitarian crises continue to deepen.
The @UN will continue to mobilize immediate action to address the desperate needs of the people of Myanmar. https://t.co/RmIT449Ihn— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) January 31, 2022
On Monday, youth activist Nan Lin was quoted as saying by Reuters: “We might be arrested and spend our life in jail if we’re lucky. We might be tortured and killed if we’re unlucky.”
Close observers of Myanmar and its political landscape say that charges against Ms Suu Kyi are basically meant to deter her from returning to politics in the country.
It has been a long year for the people of #Myanmar who have had their courage & resilience tested daily. Nonetheless, they have prevailed. ND-Burma looks back on the main events which have brought us to today. There must be justice & accountability!
👉 https://t.co/kz9vF1lTN0 pic.twitter.com/hZkn0IvxLJ— Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma (@NDBurma) February 1, 2022
The trials in cases against her and other leaders are taking place behind closed doors and defence lawyers have been put under a gag order by the military junta.
Reuters reported that military ruler Min Aung Hlaing on Monday extended a state of emergency imposed at the time of the coup for six months to facilitate promised elections amid threats from “internal and external saboteurs” and “terrorist attacks and destruction”.
Military authorities in Myanmar arrested more than 70 people in the past three days for promoting the action on social media, the state-run Myanmar Alin newspaper reported.
It was also reported that business owners had been warned that their properties could be seized if they paid any heed to the activists’ calls for protests. They warned that protesters could also face long sentences, Reuters reported.
