Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Denies Rumors of Talks With Myanmar Regime
By The Irrawaddy 13 September 2021
Myanmar’s detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has denied rumors that she has held talks with the junta leaders over the past two months.
“No one came to talk to me,” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told her lawyers on Monday, during a brief chat with her legal team, according to a lawyer present.
“There were rumors about who met her, but she told us that, until now, no one [from the junta’s governing body the State Administration Council (SAC) or the military] has met with her,” said the lawyer.
Rumors circulated that coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi before Myanmar’s Martyrs’ Day, which falls on July 19, and that there was a follow-up meeting last month with two members of the SAC.
A local news outlet reported that U Chit Naing and U Win Shein, the junta-appointed Ministers of Information and Planning and Finance and Industry, met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on August 6.
On Monday, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was supposed to appear before a special court in Naypyitaw’s Zabuthiri Township after eight weeks of delays to her court hearings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But after the ousted State Counselor fell ill with car sickness, she requested an absence from the court proceedings.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and other senior leaders of the National League for Democracy Party were detained hours before the military’s February 1 coup.
She faces six charges for alleged violations of COVID-19 restrictions, possession of illegal walkie-talkies, sedition and for breaching the Official Secrets Act. The military regime has also filed four corruption charges against her. She faces a potential prison sentence of 75 years.
Until early June, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s court appearances came via video conferencing. Her legal defense team met her in person for the first time on June 7, at the first hearing where she appeared in court in person.
The trials for five of the charges against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are supposed to be completed by December. Witness appearances for those cases had been half-completed when the trials were postponed for two months from July 19.
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