Suu Kyi's lawyer says she appears in good health in video meeting
Deposed leader held a video meeting to discuss the junta's charges against her
YANGON: Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in good health in a video meeting yesterday, one of her lawyers said.
The detained Nobel laureate, who has been held in custody since the military seized power on Feb 1, had wanted to meet lawyers in person and did not agree to a wide discussion by video in the presence of the police, lawyer Min Min Soe told Reuters.
"Amay looks healthy, her complexion is good," the lawyer said, using an affectionate term meaning "mother" to refer to Ms Suu Kyi.
Only the legal cases filed against her since the coup were discussed during the video conference, the lawyer said.
Ms Suu Kyi, 75, was arrested the same day the military seized power, and faces charges that include illegally importing six handheld radios and breaching coronavirus protocols.
The military has recently also accused her of bribery.
Her lawyers said the charges are trumped up and dismissed the accusation of bribery as a joke.
The next hearing in her case is today.
At least 521 civilians have been killed in protests, 141 of them on Saturday, the bloodiest day of the unrest, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
PROTESTERS
Thousands of protesters were out again yesterday in different parts of the country.
Residents in the main city of Yangon banged pots and pans and honked their car horns in a clamour of defiance as a news crew from CNN was shown around in what its correspondent said was a heavily armed convoy.
"The phone doesn't pick up the sound well but people were banging pots and pans as our heavily armed convoy drove past," CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward said in a social media post.
Media reported a gun battle between security forces and civilians near the north-western town of Kale. One villager was reportedly killed and several policemen wounded.
The United States on Tuesday ordered the departure of non-emergency US government employees and family members due to concern over what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the "increasingly disturbing and even horrifying violence" against demonstrators. - REUTERS
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