UPDATE 1-Aung San Suu Kyi lawyer says unable to meet her, seeks unconditional release

Reuters · 02/05/2021 18:28
UPDATE 1-Aung San Suu Kyi lawyer says unable to meet her, seeks unconditional release

Adds further quote from lawyer

- The lawyer for Myanmar's detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ousted President Win Myint said the two politicians were being kept at their homes but he was unable to meet them because they are still under investigation after a coup this week.

They were detained on Monday when the army seized power. Police have filed charges against Suu Kyi of importing six walkie-talkie radios illegally while Win Myint is accused of breaking coronavirus restrictions.

"We expect justice from the judge, but it is not certain. We hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Of course, we want unconditional release as they have not broken the law," veteran lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told reporters in the capital, Naypyidaw.

Khin Maung Zaw said he had been appointed by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide in a Nov. 8 election in which the army alleged fraud - an accusation dismissed by the election commission.

He said that he had tried to meet Suu Kyi and Win Myint.

"They are grounded in their homes," he said.

"I can't meet them because I was told that they are still being investigated," he said, adding that he would have the right to meet them when they appear at court or are sent to a prison.

Police have requested that both be detained for questioning until Feb. 15.

Khin Maung Zaw was himself a political prisoner during a previous period of junta rule.

He was on the legal team of two Reuters reporters who were released in May 2019 after spending more than 500 days behind bars, accused of breaking the official secrets act. Before their arrest, they had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys by security forces and Buddhist civilians in Rakhine state.


(Writing by Matthew Tostevin; Editing by Catherine Evans and Rosalba O'Brien)

((matthew.tostevin@thomsonreuters.com; +66 2 648 9777; Reuters Messaging: matthew.tostevin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))