Mandalay Region’s ousted chief minister, Dr Zaw Myint Maung, will not be allowed to travel to Naypyitaw to testify in court on behalf of deposed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, according to a source familiar with the proceedings.
Zaw Myint Maung, who is also vice chair of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, had been called as a witness in her trial on charges of breaching Covid-19 rules.
Last week, he was sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty of incitement and violating the same pandemic-related restrictions.
A hearing in Suu Kyi’s case, which is being prosecuted under Section 25 of the Natural Disaster Management Law, was held at a special court in Naypyitaw’s Zabuthiri Township on Monday.
At the hearing, the judge informed Suu Kyi’s defence team that prison authorities at Mandalay’s Obo Prison, where Zaw Myint Maung is being held, would not allow him to travel to the Myanmar capital for the trial.
No reason was given for the decision, but the health of the 69-year-old former chief minister, who is suffering from leukaemia, was cited by the prison when it turned down an earlier request.
Zaw Myint Maung has been detained at the prison for the past 10 months. He was first called as the sole defence witness in the case on November 9.
During a hearing held on November 30, Suu Kyi’s lawyers said they had reason to believe that their witness had not been duly summoned to appear at the court in Naypyitaw and asked for another summons to be sent.
At Monday’s hearing, the judge showed a copy of the summons signed by Zaw Myint Maung as evidence that it had been received.
The judge told the defence team that another way would have to be found for the witness to give his testimony, such as through video conferencing or a sworn deposition.
They agreed to this and said they would have to discuss the matter with their client, according to a court source who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity.
“The defence counsel said that although they had concrete information that [Zaw Myint Aung] didn’t receive the summons, it was their duty to accept the information of the court,” the source said.
The court is scheduled to hold its next hearing in the case on December 20.
Suu Kyi is currently facing a total of 12 charges, including six for alleged corruption.
Last week, she and deposed president Win Myint were each sentenced to four years in prison on charges of incitement and violating Covid-19 restrictions.
The current case is unrelated to the first, and is based on charges made in April by a Naypyitaw resident and former NLD member named Tun Myint Aung, who is also known as Nyi Nyi.
The sentences handed down last Monday were reduced by half later in the day, but Suu Kyi, 76, faces decades behind bars if convicted on all of the charges against her.
