Trial of Myanmar’s Suu Kyi moved to prison compound: source

NAYPYIDAW (AFP): Hearings for the trial of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be moved to a prison compound in the military-built capital Naypyidaw, a source with knowledge of the case said Tuesday.

The Nobel laureate, 77, was detained by the military when it ousted her government last year and faces a raft of charges that could see her jailed for more than 150 years.

She has since been confined to an undisclosed location in Naypyidaw, leaving only to attend hearings in a municipal compound in the east of the sprawling, low-rise capital inaugurated by the army in 2006.

Future hearings “will be conducted at the new Special Court in Naypyidaw Prison” following the completion of a new court building in the compound, said a source with knowledge of the case.

The source did not give further details.

Suu Kyi’s lawyers have been banned from speaking to the media and journalists barred from her trial.

Under a previous junta regime, she spent long spells under house arrest in her family mansion in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.

Her current detention has seen her links to the outside world limited to brief pre-trial meetings with her lawyers.

She has already been convicted of corruption, incitement against the military, breaching Covid-19 rules and breaking a telecommunications law, with a court sentencing her so far to 11 years.

Suu Kyi turned 77 on Sunday and brought a birthday cake to court to eat with her lawyers ahead of a hearing on Monday, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.