Myanmar: Supreme Court to hear appeal of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi

The Myanmar Supreme Court will hear the appeal of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was overthrown by the country’s generals when they seized power in a coup in February 2021. Suu Kyi is seeking to appeal the junta-backed court’s convictions of corruption and violations of state secrets laws.

The country’s highest court will be hearing an appeal on Suu Kyi of the junta-backed court’s charges against her of corruption and violation of election and state secrets laws, according to a source familiar with the matter. The source said that no date had been set by the Supreme Court to hear Suu Kyi’s appeal and that of the ousted Myanmar President Win Myint. The source said the judge has accepted the proposals to hear the appeals on the seven cases, which sentenced Suu Kyi to 33 years in prison.

Critics have said the charges made by the junta against Suu Kyi are absurd and were orchestrated by the generals to destroy her political career.

Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, won by a landslide in the 2020 elections. The generals had Suu Kyi arrested in February after staging the coup and annulled the vote, returning Myanmar to military rule.

Suu Kyi’s appeals to the court also come at a time when the junta is struggling to reinforce its control over large parts of the country while ramping up attacks on ethnic minorities and coup opponents, which it has outlawed as terrorists.

The Myanmar military plans to hold an election this year but has dissolved the NLD and other political parties after failing to register to comply with the junta’s stricter election laws. The military-backed party is expected to win.

The foreign ministers of the G7 countries have condemned the violence that resulted from the junta’s coup during a gathering in Japan, expressing concerns over the security and humanitarian situation in Myanmar.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which Myanmar is a member of, has long expressed frustration with the junta’s failure to make progress on the peace plan it has proposed shortly after the coup, which the junta agreed upon.