On sense, UCI even won a Nobel peace price for her efforts to bring democracy to Myanmar.

Now she's the civilian leader, and she's fighting charges that the country on her watch has committed genocide.

It's hard to get your head round.

Just what an incredible turnaround this is.

For nearly 20 years, on and off on Sans Souci was kept under house arrest here in the city of Yangon by the brutal military dictatorship.

Now, though, she's standing up for the same army which took away her freedom and even trying to justify its actions to the world thistles what it's accused of targeting and killing the ro hinge, a Muslim minority.

U.

N experts say Myanmar's army acted with genocidal intent when in 2017 troops forced out more than 740,000 reinjure.

The's refugees tell horrific stories of rape and murder, and they're still trapped in camps across the border in Bangladesh.

Then this happened this tiny west African Muslim country.

Gambia brought a case against Myanmar at the United Nations Top Court, the International Court of Justice.

It's doing this on behalf of dozens of other Muslim countries.

They want the court to issue an emergency ruling to protect the reinjure from further harm.

But Myanmar rejects all allegations of genocide.

The army, which still holds enormous power, insists it was only clearing out those it calls terrorists on that really their hinges are illegal immigrants.

Aung San Suu Ki appears to agree.

For years, she's denied that Myanmar has been persecuting the Ranger, so I don't think there's ethnic cleansing going on.

I think ethnic cleansing is too strong, an expression to useful what's happening now.

She continues to accuse the international community of failing to understand the situation in troubled rack kind State were of the opinion that they are certain extremist elements who do not want peace in the crime.

So we are disappointed in the fact that the international community has been very little attention to the terrorist element.

So why is Aung San Suu Ki now backing the army so publicly?

Well, some believe she sees it as her duty to defend her country, even if she doesn't have constitutional control over the military.

And let's not forget many in Myanmar, which is a majority Buddhist country do not care about the reinjure Muslims or they outright despised them.

Being seen to give a patriotic defense of the country in the face of so much international criticism could boost Aung San Suu choose popularity, even Mawr, ahead of the next general election in November 2020.

Just this for the Ranger is still a long way off, even with this court case, and that's because the I C J has no way of enforcing a ruling against Myanmar and there is no international police force to protect the reinjure from further abuse.

Neither Aung San Souci nor the generals would automatically be arrested and put on trial.

But it could lead to sanctions against Myanmar, damaging an economy only just finding its feet after military rule.

It could also give momentum toe other ongoing legal cases brought on behalf of the reinjure.

This means for years to come on Santucci we'll have to defend herself against one of the worst crimes imaginable, an international beacon of freedom, fairness and equality.