A court in military-ruled Myanmar postponed its verdicts Monday on two charges against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi in which she is accused of importing and possessing walkie-talkies without following official procedures, a legal official familiar with the case said.
The case in the court in the capital, Naypyitaw, is among many brought against the 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate since the army seized power on Feb. 1, ousting her elected government and arresting top members of her National League for Democracy party.
The court gave no reason for delaying the verdicts until Jan. 10, according to the legal official, who insisted on anonymity for fear of being punished by the authorities, who have restricted the release of information about Suu Kyi’s trials.
Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory in last year’s general election, but the military said there was widespread electoral fraud, an assertion that independent poll watchers doubt.
Suu Kyi’s supporters and independent analysts say all the charges against her are politically motivated and an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the military’s seizure of power while keeping her from returning to politics. If found guilty of all the charges she faces, she could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison.
Suu Kyi was convicted on Dec. 6 on two other charges — incitement and breaching COVID-19 restrictions — and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment. Hours after the sentence was issued, the head of the military-installed government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, reduced it by half. She is being held by the military at an unknown location and state television reported that she would serve her sentence there.
Suu Kyi has been attending court hearings in prison clothes — a white top and a brown longyi skirt provided by the authorities. The hearings are closed to the media and spectators and the prosecutors do not comment. Her lawyers, who had been a source of information on the proceedings, were served with gag orders in October.
A charge under the Export-Import Law of having improperly imported the walkies-talkies was the first filed against Suu Kyi and served as the initial justification for her continued detention. A second charge of illegally possessing the radios was filed the following month.
The radios were seized from the gate of her residence and the barracks of her bodyguards during a search on Feb. 1, the day she was arrested.
Suu Kyi’s lawyers argued that the radios were not in her personal possession and were legitimately used to help provide for her security, but the court declined to dismiss the charges.
The court on Monday also heard video testimony from the vice chairman of Suu Kyi's party, Zaw Myint Maung, in another case against her involving alleged violation of COVID-19 restrictions during last year's election campaign, the legal official said.
Zaw Myint Maung, who had been unable to appear in court earlier for health reasons, testified that people had gathered to see her when she visited Shwe Kyar Pin Ward during the campaign because they respect her, and it wasn't a violation of virus restrictions, the official said.
The offense falls under the Natural Disaster Management Law and the maximum penalty is three years in prison and a fine.
She is also being tried in the same court on five counts of corruption. The maximum penalty for each count is 15 years in prison and a fine. A sixth corruption charge, in which Suu Kyi and ousted President Win Myint are accused of granting permits to rent and buy a helicopter, has not yet gone to trial.
In separate proceedings, she is accused of violating the Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum term of 14 years.
Additional charges were also added by Myanmar’s election commission against Suu Kyi and 15 other politicians in November for alleged fraud in last year’s election. The charges by the military-controlled Union Election Commission could result in Suu Kyi’s party being dissolved and unable to participate in a new election the military has promised will take place within two years of its takeover.
The military's seizure of power was met by nonviolent nationwide demonstrations, which security forces quashed with deadly force, killing nearly 1,400 civilians, according to a detailed list compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Peaceful protests have continued, but amid the severe crackdown, an armed resistance has also grown, to the point that U.N. experts have warned the country could be sliding into civil war.
MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) — Thailand’s foreign minister on Friday said he urged Myanmar’s military authorities not to violently respond to its army’s loss of an important border trading town to its opponents, and that so far they seemed to be exercising restraint.
Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara spoke during a visit to Mae Sot, which lies directly across a river from Myanmar’s Myawaddy, where army troops abandoned their last defensive position early Thursday.
Their hasty escape ceded virtual control of the busy trading town to guerrillas of the ethnic Karen National Union and its allies, including members of the pro-democracy People’s Defense Forces.
Myanmar’s once-mighty armed forces have suffered a series of unprecedented defeats since last October, losing swathes of territory including border posts to both ethnic fighters and guerrilla units. Civilians took up arms after the generals seized power in 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The military has frequently hit back heavily, using air power.
Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for Myanmar's military government, told the BBC’s Burmese language service Thursday night that the soldiers at the army’s last base outside Myawaddy town abandoned the post for the safety of their families who were living with them. He said Myanmar was in talks with Thailand about getting them safely back, and acknowledged that Karen guerrillas were inside the town.
There is concern that the Myanmar military might launch a concerted counter- attack against Myawaddy, which could send thousands fleeing into Thailand for safety and badly disrupt border trade.
Speaking to reporters after inspecting the area, Foreign Minister Parnpree said Thailand had already spoken with Myanmar’s military and told them they did not wish to see violence, offering Thailand’s help.
“Now, what we are most concerned about is that we want to see peace in Myawaddy, not only because of the trading, but it’s our neighbor,” he said. “We do not wish for any violence to happen. If talks are possible, among their groups, we will be very welcoming of that, and if they want us to be the mediator, we are ready to help coordinating.”
He said he hoped there could be talks between the opposing sides to prevent retaliatory attacks.
“We have already sent people to talk to them. And for the situation today, they already said that there will not yet be any violent retaliation. If they wanted to be violent, they would have already done that days ago."
On Friday evening, however, there were at least two loud explosions emanating from the area on the Myanmar side of one of the two bridges connecting Myawaddy and Mae Sot. Their cause could not immediately be discovered.
Residents from both sides of the river said earlier there have been frequent explosions in the past few days from airstrikes against captured positions outside Myawaddy town, but that Friday was quiet. Thai immigration officials said visitor numbers from Myanmar were unexceptional.
But for some, the quiet was the problem. A Myawaddy resident who only gave his name as Sulai told The Associated Press it unnerved him so he fled.
“They fear the quiet. They are afraid of silence with no sound of fighting. Those with experience say it means the fight is much more likely to continue," he said.
Thai troops were keeping watch in Mae Sot on Friday, especially near the bridges. Besides reassuring residents of their safety, they served to block pockets of trapped Myanmar soldiers from slipping across the border.
On the Myanmar side, a small group of men lounged in the stifling heat. Thai troops said they were from the Border Guard Force, a Karen group that was aligned with Myanmar’s military who recently severed their links.
The Karen National Union — the leading political body for the Karen ethnic minority — said in a statement on its Facebook page on Friday that it will establish administrative mechanisms, prevent illicit businesses, contraband and human trafficking and implement stability and law enforcement as well as facilitate trade in the Myawaddy area when it secures its position there.
The KNU said it's deeply concerned about the security of the people living on both sides of the border, seeks to have stability and access to humanitarian aid and is working to achieve meaningful cooperation with the Thai government and local and international partner organizations.
The Karen, who are native to the eastern state of Kayin, have been fighting for more than seven decades for greater autonomy from Myanmar’s central government. A wider struggle including other ethnic minority groups and pro-democracy militants began after the army’s 2021 takeover.
The Karen make up a large part of about 90,000 refugees from Myanmar who live in nine long-term refugee camps in Thailand after fleeing previous rounds of fighting.
The army's setbacks of the past few months have been noted by Myanmar's neighbors, who have generally been wary of intervening in the crisis there, said Moe Thuzar, a Myanmar scholar who is a senior fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
“Already, we have heard the Thai prime minister acknowledge that the Myanmar military is losing strength. How will the various opposition forces coordinate and consolidate these gains towards the resistance’s stated objectives for the country’s political future, is yet unclear,” she told The Associated Press in an email. “Unclear too, is how neighboring capitals will react or respond to the implications of the change in tax and administrative control of these border crossings.”
Myanmar residents cross the 1st Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province on Friday, April 12, 2024. Thailand’s foreign minister says he has urged Myanmar’s military authorities not to violently respond to its army’s loss of an important border trading town to its opponents, and that so far it seemed to be exercising restraint. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Myanmar resident cross the Moei river on the Thai side, near the 1st Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province on Friday, April 12, 2024.
Thai military personnel on an armored vehicle keep guard along the Moei river on the Thai side, under the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province on Friday, April 12, 2024. Thailand’s foreign minister says he has urged Myanmar’s military authorities not to violently respond to its army’s loss of an important border trading town to its opponents, and that so far it seemed to be exercising restraint. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Thai military personnel on an armored vehicle keep guard along the Moei river on the Thai side, under the 1st Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province on Friday, April 12, 2024. Thailand’s foreign minister says he has urged Myanmar’s military authorities not to violently respond to its army’s loss of an important border trading town to its opponents, and that so far it seemed to be exercising restraint. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara arrive at the 1st Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province on Friday, April 12, 2024. Thailand’s foreign minister says he has urged Myanmar’s military authorities not to violently respond to its army’s loss of an important border trading town to its opponents, and that so far it seemed to be exercising restraint. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
General view Myawaddy district in eastern Myanmar, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Thailand’s foreign minister says he has urged Myanmar’s military authorities not to violently respond to its army’s loss of an important border trading town to its opponents, and that so far it seemed to be exercising restraint. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Myanmar residents cross the 1st Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge departure Myawaddy district in eastern Myanmar, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Thailand’s foreign minister says he has urged Myanmar’s military authorities not to violently respond to its army’s loss of an important border trading town to its opponents, and that so far it seemed to be exercising restraint. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Myanmar buddhist monks and tourists cross the 1st Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province on Friday, April 12, 2024. Thailand’s foreign minister says he has urged Myanmar’s military authorities not to violently respond to its army’s loss of an important border trading town to its opponents, and that so far it seemed to be exercising restraint. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
This photo shows a general view of a checkpoint near the 1st Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Myawaddy district in eastern Myanmar, on Friday, April 12, 2024. Thailand’s foreign minister says he has urged Myanmar’s military authorities not to violently respond to its army’s loss of an important border trading town to its opponents, and that so far it seemed to be exercising restraint. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Thai military soldier keeps guard along the Moei river on the Thai side, under the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province on Friday, April 12, 2024. Thailand’s foreign minister says he has urged Myanmar’s military authorities not to violently respond to its army’s loss of an important border trading town to its opponents, and that so far it seemed to be exercising restraint. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
