Myanmar: No defence witnesses at Suu Kyi incitement trial: lawyer

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  • Aung San Suu Kyi
    Current State Counsellor of Myanmar and Leader of the National League for Democracy

Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not call any defence witnesses at her incitement trial in a junta court, her lawyer said Tuesday, as the military hit a detained US journalist with another criminal charge.

Suu Kyi went on trial in June, four months after she was taken into custody in a coup that sparked huge democracy protests.

The 76-year-old faces a raft of charges, from sedition to illegally importing walkie-talkies, which could see her jailed for decades.

Suu Kyi and former president Win Myint “would show no witness” in their defence, her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw said after the latest hearing in their trial for incitement.

Suu Kyi was scheduled to testify in the trial on October 26, he added.

Under house arrest since the coup, the Nobel laureate’s only link to the outside world has been through pre-hearing meetings with her lawyers.

The junta has threatened to dissolve her National League for Democracy party and continues to wage a bloody campaign against opponents to its rule.

Richard Horsey of the International Crisis group said Suu Kyi “must have been concerned for the safety of anyone she would call as a defence witness.”

Source:  https://news.yahoo.com/us-journalist-held-myanmar-hit-064422109.html