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Aung San Suu Kyi to Appear in Court Later This Month, Lawyer Says 


FILE - Anti-coup protesters walk through a market with images of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi at Kamayut township in Yangon, Myanmar, Apr. 8, 2021.
FILE - Anti-coup protesters walk through a market with images of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi at Kamayut township in Yangon, Myanmar, Apr. 8, 2021.

Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will appear in court on May 24, her lawyer said.

She has not been seen in public since February 1, when she was detained and placed under house arrest by the country’s military, which seized power.

Since the coup, she has been charged with six alleged crimes, including flouting COVID-19 restrictions during last year’s election.

Most seriously, she is charged with violating the country’s Official Secrets Act. A conviction could carry a sentence of up to 14 years, according to Reuters.

The current regime also accuses her of corruption but has not brought an official charge.

Suu Kyi has reportedly attended some previous hearings via videoconference and complained that the proceedings were moving too slowly.

"She will appear in person in court on May 24," lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told Agence France-Presse.

The military junta has defended the arrest of Suu Kyi, saying her party committed electoral fraud during the November elections. The party won in a landslide.

Since the coup, Myanmar has been rocked by protests, many of them violent. At least 780 people have been reported killed in the unrest.

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