SUU KYI TELLS HER LAWYERS TESTIMONY VS HER A PACK OF LIES

Lawyers for Myanmar’s ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, said Monday that some of the testimony against her delivered in court was wrong, Grant Peck reported for the Associated Press (AP).

In the trial, now on its second week, Suu Kyi is charged with illegally importing walkie-talkies for her bodyguards’ use, unlicensed use of the radios, spreading information that could cause public alarm or unrest, and violating COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign.

The charges could send her to prison and end her political career. Critics of the ruling military junta say the case is meant to discredit her and legitimize its seizure of power.

The charges in the trial are relatively minor, but if she is convicted could keep her from contesting a new election promised by the military within two years of its takeover.

Even if Suu Kyi is acquitted, there are two more serious charges against her that have yet to go to trial: violating a state secrets act, a holdover from British colonial law that is punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment, and accepting bribes, which carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence.

Suu Kyi “listened with interest during the entire court hearing process and told us which testimony is wrong, which one should be cross-examined,” one of her lawyers, Min Min Soe, said after Monday’s court session in the capital, Naypyitaw. She did not cite any examples.

Another of her lawyers, Kyi Win, said Monday’s testimony by police and a local official involved the charges of violating pandemic control regulations, and the unregistered import and use of the walkie-talkies. Kyi Win said the army captain who testified about importing the radios provided few details when he questioned him. “All he could say was that the telecommunications equipment had been handed over to him. And he doesn’t know the rest,” Kyi Win said.

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