Myanmar's Suu Kyi Says Party Will "Exist As Long As People Exist": Lawyer

Aung San Suu Kyi has been hit with a string of criminal charges including flouting coronavirus restrictions during last year's election campaign and possessing unlicensed walkie-talkies.

Detained Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday voiced defiance in her first public comments since being held in a coup, vowing her ousted political party would "exist as long as the people exist." Myanmar has been in uproar since the February 1 putsch, with near-daily protests and a nationwide civil disobedience movement. More than 800 people have been killed by the military, according to a local monitoring group. In her first in-person court appearance, Suu Kyi told her lawyer her National League for Democracy would "exist as long as the people exist," even as the junta threatens to dissolve the party -- which swept elections in 2020 -- over alleged voter fraud. The Nobel laureate -- who had not been seen in public since the coup -- sounded "healthy and fully confident" during the 30-minute meeting, her lawyer Min Min Soe tolad AFP.