Aung San Suu Kyi Makes First Court Appearance Since Coup
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, is facing a raft of charges after being detained by Myanmar’s military. If she is found guilty, she could be imprisoned for the rest of her life.
Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar, in February with a poster of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the country’s ousted civilian government.Credit.The New York Times
May 24, 2021, 4:18 a.m. ET
For the first time since Myanmar’s military locked her up in a pre-dawn raid as part of its coup on Feb. 1, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s ousted civilian government, was seen in person on Monday when she sat briefly at a court hearing.
âNow We Are Unitedâ: Myanmarâs Ethnic Divisions Soften After Coup
Amid the resistance to military rule, some are saying that democracy canât flourish without respecting the minorities that have been persecuted for decades.
A student protest against military rule in Yangon, Myanmar, earlier this month.Credit.The New York Times
The Myanmar militaryâs disinformation was crude but effective.
Army propagandists claimed an ethnic group called the Rohingya was burning down its own villages and wanted to swamp Buddhist-majority Myanmar with Islamic hordes. The Rohingya were spinning tall tales, the military said in 2017, about soldiers committing mass rape and murder.
A Small Town and a Spray of Bullets in Myanmar
Police officers shot into a cluster of unarmed civilians in a tiny town on Thursday, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 20.
Protesters during confrontations with security forces in Yangon, Myanmar, on Tuesday.Credit.The New York Times
Published March 11, 2021Updated March 19, 2021
Until Thursday, Myaing, a small town in central Myanmar, was best known for its production of thanaka, a bark that is ground for use as a cooling cosmetic.
But in the late morning of March 11, the town, which can be traversed in 10 minutes, became synonymous with the brutality of the military that seized power last month. Myaing’s rain-slicked streets were mottled with blood as police officers shot into a cluster of unarmed civilians, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 20, according to witnesses and hospital officials.
Weeks of demonstrations and a deadly crackdown have roiled the nation since a Feb. 1 coup brought back full military rule following years of quasi-democracy.