Suu Kyi faces new charge under Myanmar’s official secrets act

Myanmar’s deposed leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been charged with breaking a colonial-era official secrets law, her lawyer said on Thursday, the most serious charge against the veteran opponent of military rule.  

Myanmar has been rocked by protests since the army overthrew Suu Kyi’s elected government on Feb. 1 citing unsubstantiated claims of fraud in a November election that her party swept.  

Suu Kyi and other members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) have been detained.  

The junta had earlier accused her of several minor offences including illegally importing six handheld radios and breaching coronavirus protocols.  

Her chief lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, told Reuters by telephone that Suu Kyi, three of her deposed cabinet ministers and a detained Australian economic adviser, Sean Turnell, were charged a week ago in a Yangon court under the official secrets law, adding he learned of the new charge two days ago.  

A conviction under the law can carry a prison sentence of up to 14 years.  

At least 538 civilians have been killed in protests against the coup, 141 of them on Saturday, the bloodiest day of the unrest, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group.  

Protesters were back out in several places on Thursday and two more people were killed, according to media reports, as activists burned copies of a military-framed constitution and called for unity among all those opposed to army rule.  

One person was killed and five wounded when the security forces fired in the central town of Monywa, the Monywa Gazette reported.
(Reuters), 1 April, 2021 -