Verdict next month in trial of Myanmar’s Suu Kyi–source

Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi REUTERS FILE PHOTO

YANGON — A Myanmar junta court will give its verdict next month on whether ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi broke coronavirus rules during elections her party won last year, a source said Tuesday.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military’s February coup, which sparked huge protests and a bloody crackdown on dissent.

Suu Kyi, 76, went on trial in June, and faces a raft of charges from illegally importing walkie talkies to sedition.

Media have been barred from attending proceedings at the special court in the military-built capital Naypyidaw, and the junta recently banned her legal team from speaking to reporters.

On Tuesday Suu Kyi appeared at the latest hearing in the trial for allegedly flouting coronavirus rules during the 2020 elections, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

She would testify in her defence next week, the source said, adding a “final order pronouncing the verdict of the court” was set for December 14.

Suu Kyi faces three years in jail if found guilty.

The junta court will also hear closing arguments in a separate trial for incitement next week, as it begins to wrap up proceedings that could see the Nobel laureate jailed for decades.

The military have alleged that the 2020 elections, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won by a landslide — trouncing a military-backed party — were beset with fraud.

Last month Win Htein, a former NLD parliamentarian and close aide of Suu Kyi, was handed 20 years in jail for treason, the first high-ranking member of the party to be jailed by a junta court.