The trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was adjourned yesterday for two weeks so that defense lawyers can call an additional witness to testify in the widely watched case, a Myanmar official said.
The District Court trying Suu Kyi informed lawyers of the postponement until June 26 during a brief hearing yesterday at Insein Prison, where the trial is taking place, said the government official who is close to the court. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
No new date has been set for closing arguments, which were originally set for June 1 and delayed repeatedly since then.
Yesterday’s postponement was expected after Suu Kyi’s lawyers won an appeal earlier this week to reinstate one defense witness — Khin Moe Moe, a lawyer and member of the Nobel laureate’s opposition party.
The lawyers have filed a second appeal with the High Court to bring back two other witnesses barred by the lower court presiding over her trial. If accepted, that appeal could prompt more delays.
The District Court trying Suu Kyi had initially barred the three defense witnesses — leaving Suu Kyi with a sole witness.
Suu Kyi is charged with violating the terms of her house arrest because an uninvited American man swam secretly to her closely guarded lakeside home last month and stayed two days.
If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison.
The hearing has drawn outrage from the international community and Suu Kyi’s local supporters, who say the military government is using the bizarre incident as an excuse to keep the pro-democracy leader detained through next year’s elections.
The 63-year-old Suu Kyi told her lawyers she believes the case against her is “politically motivated” but that it wouldn’t stop her from continuing her fight for democracy, Nyan Win, one of her lawyers, said on Thursday.
“She said she is engaged in politics due to her political belief and commitment,” Nyan Win said. “She would not be doing politics if she were afraid of the consequences.”
It is widely expected that Suu Kyi will be found guilty because courts in Myanmar are known for handing out harsh sentences to political dissidents.
Suu Kyi’s party won the country’s last elections in 1990 but was not allowed to take power by the military, which has run the country since 1962.
One of Japan’s biggest pop stars and best-known TV hosts, Masahiro Nakai, yesterday announced his retirement over sexual misconduct allegations, reports said, in the latest scandal to rock Japan’s entertainment industry. Nakai’s announcement came after now-defunct boy band empire Johnny & Associates admitted in 2023 that its late founder, Johnny Kitagawa, for decades sexually assaulted teenage boys and young men. Nakai was a member of the now-disbanded SMAP — part of Johnny & Associates’s lucrative stable — that swept the charts in Japan and across Asia during the band’s nearly 30 years of fame. Reports emerged last month that Nakai, 52, who since
EYEING A SOLUTION: In unusually critical remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump said he was ‘destroying Russia by not making a deal’ US President Donald Trump on Wednesday stepped up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a peace deal with Ukraine, threatening tougher economic measures if Moscow does not agree to end the war. Trump’s warning in a social media post came as the Republican seeks a quick solution to a grinding conflict that he had promised to end before even starting his second term. “If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
RSS