Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi was convicted for six more years on more corruption charges on Monday. Aung San Suu Kyi was earlier given an 11-year prison sentence on sedition, corruption and other charges at earlier trials after the military ousted her elected government and detained her in February 2021.
The trial was held behind closed doors, with no access for media or the public and her lawyers were forbidden by a gag order from revealing information about the proceedings.
In the four corruption cases decided Monday, Suu Kyi was alleged to have abused her position to rent public land at below market prices and to have built a residence with donations meant for charitable purposes. She received sentences of three years for each of the four counts, but the sentences for three of them will be served concurrently, giving her a total of six more years in prison.
Suu Kyi and her co-defendants have denied all the allegations and their lawyers are expected to file appeals in the coming days.
Other top members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party and her government have also been arrested and imprisoned.
Authorities have suggested they might dissolve the party before the next election. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a civil society organization, says more than 12,000 people are in detention after being seized by the security forces.
The army seized power and detained Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, 2021, the day when her party would have started a second-five year term in office after it won a landslide victory in a November 2020 general election. The army said it acted because there had been massive voting fraud, but independent election observers did not find any major irregularities.
The army’s takeover sparked peaceful nationwide street protests that security forces quashed with lethal force, triggering armed resistance that some UN experts now characterize as civil war.
The military government has been accused of human rights abuses including arbitrary arrests and killings, torture, and military sweeps that include air attacks on civilians and the burning of entire villages.
Suu Kyi, 77, has been the face of opposition to military rule in Myanmar for more than three decades. She won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest.
Her five years as its civilian government leader were marked by repression and military dominance even though it was Myanmar’s most democratic period since a 1962 coup.
Suu Kyi has been charged with a total of 11 counts under the Anti-Corruption Act, with each count punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine.
(With inputs from AP)
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