Aung San Suu Kyi faces new charge amid protests

Authorities in Myanmar have filed further charges against deposed state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, according to local media, while mass protests against the military coup continued on Tuesday.

Suu Kyi is being charged with alleged breaches of the country’s disaster management law in connection with coronavirus measures, according to a report in local media outlet Mizzima News, citing her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw.

Deposed president Win Myint also faces charges of violating disaster management laws, and observers believe the military wants to get him and Suu Kyi out of the way permanently.
Suu Kyi had a video phone call with the leading judge on Tuesday, according to her lawyer, who said he had not been allowed to be present during the conversation.

A next hearing has been scheduled for March 1, he said.

The military took power in a coup on February 1, deposing civilian leader Suu Kyi and charging her with breaching foreign trade laws, after imported walkie talkies were found in her home.
This triggered mass protests across the country that continued on Tuesday, despite the increasing threat of violence.

Demonstrators took to the streets in Bago, Myawaddy, Pakokku, Kalay, Muse, Myitkyina, Pathein, Loikaw, Taunggyi, Hinthada, Lashio, Pyay, and Magway, according to local news portal Eleven Myanmar.

Protesters gathered in front of the US embassy in Yangon and near the central bank, calling for the reinstatement of a civilian government under Suu Kyi and for her release.
Berlin (dpa), 16 Feb, 2021