Photo: RFA
The first group of six out of the nearly 40 media workers detained covering protests against Myanmar’s ruling junta appeared in video conference trials Friday, while protesters in major cities defied a tightening crackdown that has seen 73 people killed so far, lawyers and witnesses said.
Of the 37 journalists detained during nearly six weeks of anti-junta protests in the wake of the Feb. 1 coup, 22 have been released. Six of the 15 still in custody appeared in several township court video trials Friday to face charges under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code, for defamation and incitement for their reporting on the anti-military protests, lawyers said.
Photo: RFA
Violent suppression of Myanmar demonstrations killed 15 people Thursday, raising the death toll from five weeks of street protests to 73, as the military junta announced a corruption investigation of leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other top officials from the deposed civilian government.
Accusations by the military regime that Aung San Suu Kyi had accepted U.S. $600,000 and more than 25 pounds of gold, swiftly dismissed as “totally baseless” by an MP from her National League for Democracy (NLD), add to a list of charges imposed on the 75-year-old leader since she was ousted and detained on Feb. 1.
While the military pressed its case against Aung San Suu Kyi and other top NLD figures at a news conference in Naypyidaw, violent crackdowns by police and soldiers killed at least 15 protesters in the cities of Yangon, Myaing, Mandalay, Myingyan, and Bago. The confirmed death toll is now 73, according to an RFA tally.