Gag order keeping Suu Kyi’s testimony hidden

Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has testified in court for the first time in one of several cases against her, but details of what she said are not available because of a gag order on her lawyers.

Since last week, all the defence lawyers in Suu Kyi’s cases have been barred from providing details of the court proceedings. The action was taken under Myanmar’s Code of Criminal Procedure, a broadly worded statute from British colonial times intended to deal with emergency situations that threaten public safety.

The only accounts of the proceedings had previously come from lawyers defending her and her co-defendants. The court sessions are closed to reporters and the public, the prosecutors do not comment on them, and Myanmar’s state-controlled media have not reported directly on them.

Major General Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for the military government, said earlier this month after the gag order was imposed on Suu Kyi’s main lawyer that it was done because he had incited local and foreign media to spread false information that could destabilise the country.

A person familiar with the legal proceedings confirmed that Suu Kyi testified yesterday at the special court session in the capital, Naypyitaw, but could not provide details. The source asked not to be identified because of fear of legal action or harassment.

The court has been hearing testimony related to the charge of incitement, which is sometimes referred to as sedition, defined as spreading false or inflammatory information that could disturb public order. It is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment.

Suu Kyi’s co-defendants in the case are Win Myint, who was president in her government, and Naypyitaw’s former mayor, Myo Aung.

The evidence submitted by the prosecution consists of statements posted on a Facebook page of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party. The lawyers for Suu Kyi and Win Myint have said they cannot be held responsible for the statements – which criticised the army’s seizure of power in February, and suggested in broad terms that it be resisted – because they were already in detention.

Suu Kyi has been detained since the army stopped her and her party from beginning a second five-year term in power, after a landslide victory in last November’s general election. The military says it acted because there was large-scale electoral fraud, an allegation that appears to have little supporting evidence.