Yangon:
Myanmar’s junta will place ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi on trial for corruption, her lawyer stated Friday, adding to a raft of ongoing situations that could see her jailed for decades.
Suu Kyi has been beneath property arrest because she and her elected government had been deposed by the military in a February coup that sparked a mass uprising and a brutal crackdown on dissent.
The 76-year-old Nobel laureate is presently on trial for flouting coronavirus restrictions through polls her party won in a landslide last year, illegally importing walkie talkies and sedition.
She will face a new trial on 4 charges of corruption starting on October 1 in the capital Naypyidaw, her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw stated.
Each corruption charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.
The ongoing trials had been delayed for two months as Myanmar grappled with a coronavirus surge and only resumed this week, with Suu Kyi skipping the 1st day on wellness grounds.
Journalists have been barred from all proceedings so far.
The junta has also charged her for accepting illegal payments of gold and violating a colonial-era secrecy law, while these are but to come to court.
Her National League for Democracy government was deposed by the military for alleged voter fraud through the 2020 polls, in which it trounced a political party aligned with the generals.
A nationwide uprising and ongoing unrest has paralysed the economy of the Southeast Asian nation.
More than 1,one hundred individuals have been killed and more than 8,000 arrested, according to a neighborhood monitoring group.
The military says the toll is significantly decrease.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing stated last month that elections would be held and a state of emergency lifted by August 2023, extending the military’s initial one-year timeline announced days soon after the coup.
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