Myanmar junta sentences Suu Kyi to four more years in prison

 

A junta court found the civilian leader guilty of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies and violating coronavirus restrictions.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained since February 1 when her government was forced out in an early morning coup, ending Myanmar's short-lived experiment with democracy. (Reuters)

A Myanmar junta court has convicted Aung San Suu Kyi of three criminal charges, sentencing her to four years in prison in the latest in a slew of cases against the ousted civilian leader. 

A source with knowledge of the case told AFP news agency on Monday the 76-year-old was found guilty of two charges related to illegally importing and owning walkie-talkies and one of breaking coronavirus rules.

The walkie-talkie charges stem from when soldiers raided her house on the day of the coup, allegedly discovering the contraband equipment.

Monday's sentence adds to the penalties the court handed down in December when she was jailed for four years for incitement and breaching Covid-19 rules while campaigning.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cut the sentence to two years and said she could serve her term under house arrest in the capital Naypyidaw.

 

International condemnation

December's ruling drew international condemnation, and the Myanmar public reverted to old protesting tactics of banging pots and pans in a show of anger.

Journalists have been barred from attending hearings, and Suu Kyi's lawyers have been muzzled from speaking to the media.

Under a previous junta regime, Suu Kyi spent long spells under house arrest in her family mansion in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city.

Today, she is confined to an undisclosed location in the capital, with her link to the outside world limited to brief pre-trial meetings with her lawyers.

READ MORE: ASEAN mulls Myanmar junta leader’s summit attendance amid Suu Kyi row

Besides Monday's cases, she is also facing multiple counts of corruption – each of which is punishable by 15 years in jail – and of violating the official secrets act. 

In November, she and 15 other officials, including Myanmar's president Win Myint, were also charged with alleged electoral fraud during the 2020 elections.

Military coup

The Nobel laureate has been detained since February 1 when her government was forced out in an early morning coup, ending Myanmar's short-lived experiment with democracy. 

Her National League for Democracy party had swept the polls in a landslide, trouncing a military-aligned party by a wider margin than the previous 2015 election.

Since the coup, many of her political allies have been arrested, with one chief minister sentenced to 75 years in jail, while others are in hiding.

The generals' power grab triggered widespread dissent, which security forces sought to quell with mass detentions and bloody crackdowns in which more than 1,400 civilians have been killed, according to a local monitoring group.

Source: TRTWorld and agencies

 

 

Social media is bold.

Social media is young.

Social media raises questions.

 Social media is not satisfied with an answer.

Social media looks at the big picture.

 Social media is interested in every detail.

social media is curious.

 Social media is free.

Social media is irreplaceable.

But never irrelevant.

Social media is you.

(With input from news agency language)

 If you like this story, share it with a friend!  

We are a non-profit organization. Help us financially to keep our journalism free from government and corporate pressure