MYANMAR JUNTA SLAPS AUNG SAN SUU KYI WITH CORRUPTION CHARGES

Ousted Myanmar head of government Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged with corruption, according to a newspaper report, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

The Anti-Corruption Commission in Myanmar found evidence that the 75-year-old committed "corruption using her rank," the state-affiliated newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Thursday.

The accusations include illegally accepting $600,000 and several kilograms of gold, as well as misusing land. Suu Kyi's lawyer described the accusations as absurd and groundless.

"I’ve never met any statesman more honest and incorruptible as Aung San Suu Kyi," Khin Maung Zaw, the head of her defense team, told dpa.

Corruption is punishable by up to 15 years in prison in Myanmar, which has seen widespread unrest since a military coup in February.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been under house arrest since the coup on February 1 - as she was for years under the previous military dictatorship. The judiciary has already charged her with half a dozen offenses, including violating foreign trade laws, violating coronavirus measures and inciting sedition.

It is suspected that the junta wants to use the proceedings to keep the popular ex-head of government out of politics permanently. Myanmar has been plunged into chaos and violence since the coup. The military suppresses all resistance with brutal force.

According to estimates by the prisoners' aid organization AAPP, at least 858 people have been killed. Almost 6,000 have been arrested.

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