Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to four years in prison

YANGON: DEC. 6 – Aung San Suu Kyi, the ousted Myanmar leader, has been sentenced to four years in prison, the first in a sequence of rulings that may land her in prison for life.

She was convicted of inciting dissent and violating Covid guidelines under a natural catastrophes statute. Ms. Suu Kyi is facing a total of 11 counts, all of which she has rejected.

She has been under house arrest since February when the military overthrew her elected civilian administration and imprisoned its leaders. It is unclear when or if Ms Suu Kyi will be imprisoned.

Co-defendant Win Myint, the former president and ally of Ms. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), was also sentenced to four years in prison on Monday under the same allegations.

Suu Kyi ‘struggling’

The 76-year-old is facing a slew of allegations, including several counts of corruption and breaking the Official Secrets Act. The entire procedure has been severely criticized as being unfair.

In one case, Ms. Suu Kyi was found guilty of breaking COVID-19 regulations for waving at a throng of supporters while wearing a mask and face shield during last year’s election campaign.

In the other, she was found guilty of inciting disorder for a statement issued by her party after she had already been arrested, calling for public opposition to the coup.

Suu Kyi’s attorneys, who had previously been the only source of information on the court processes, have also been slapped with gag orders prohibiting them from disclosing any information.

Apart from her brief court appearances, she hasn’t been seen or heard from in a long time. A spokesman for the newly formed National Unity Government, a group made up of pro-democracy figures and opponents of the coup, had earlier told the BBC Ms. Suu Kyi was struggling.

“She is not OK… military generals are preparing for 104 years of sentences for her in prison. They want her to die in prison,” Dr. Sasa said.

The military had seized power alleging voter fraud in general elections held last year in which the NLD won by a landslide. However, independent election observers have said the elections were largely free and fair.

The coup triggered widespread demonstrations and Myanmar’s military has cracked down on pro-democracy protesters, activists and journalists.

According to the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Ms. Suu Kyi is one of more than 10,600 individuals jailed by the military since February, and at least 1,303 others were murdered in the rallies.

“The draconian penalties handed down to Aung San Suu Kyi on these spurious allegations are the latest proof of the military’s desire to eradicate all dissent and smother freedoms in Myanmar,” said Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for Campaigns.

Who is Aung San Suu Kyi?

Between 1989 and 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi was imprisoned by the military for over 15 years and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to restore democracy to Myanmar.

Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), scored a resounding win in 2015, but she was barred from becoming president by statutes that prohibit anyone with foreign national children from holding the post. She was largely recognized as the country’s de facto ruler.

Her international reputation, however, was seriously harmed by the way she handled the Rohingya crisis, which began in 2017.

Ms. Suu Kyi came before the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2019 to defend her country against allegations of genocide.