Suu kyi ‘breached official secrets law’
Myanmar's deposed leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been charged with breaking a colonial-era official secrets law, her lawyer said yesterday, 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.
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 yesterday 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.
The coup has also triggered new clashes in Myanmar's old wars.
At least 20 soldiers were killed and four military trucks destroyed in clashes with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), one of Myanmar's most powerful rebel groups, DVB news reported.
Myanmar military aircraft have started bombing positions of another group, the Karen National Union (KNU), for the first time in more than 20 years and thousands of villagers have fled from their homes, many into Thailand.
The UN special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgene, told the 15-member UN Security Council on Wednesday that the military was not capable of managing the country.
The council must consider "potentially significant action" to reverse the course of events as "a bloodbath is imminent", she said.
Meanwhile, Britain sanctioned a Myanmar conglomerate yesterday for its close links to the military leadership.
The United States on Wednesday urged China, which has significant economic and strategic interests in Myanmar, to use its influence to hold to account those responsible for the coup.
In a sign of stepped-up shuttle diplomacy, the foreign ministers of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are due to meet China's top diplomat Wang in China this week.
The Myanmar military has traditionally been impervious to external pressure.
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