Former democratically-elected leader jailed seven years more
Former democratically-elected leader jailed seven years more
By Usman Ahmed
Kanempress
30th December 2022
A military court in Myanmar has sentenced former democratically-elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi to a further seven years in prison, raising her overall jail time to 33 years.
On Friday, Aung San Suu Kyi
was sentenced on the final five charges she faced as a court found her guilty of corruption because she had not followed regulations in renting a helicopter for a government minister.
Aung San Suu Kyi had already been convicted of 14 different crimes including breaching Covid public safety rules, importing walkie-talkies and violating the official secrets act.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s trials, this year, have been set behind closed-doors where the public and media are barred access and her lawyers are also banned from speaking to journalists. She has denied all the charges against her.
The 77-year-old Nobel laureate had spent most of her time in detention under house arrest in the capital Nay Pyi Taw.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since a military ousted her government in a coup in February 2021.
Since then Aung San Suu Kyi faced 18 months of trials on 19 charges, which rights groups described as a sham.
The UN Security Council had last week called for her release as well as an end to violence in Myanmar and the release of all political prisoners.
China and Russia abstained from the vote and did not use their veto power following amendments to the resolution’s wording.
Amnesty International had previously said the “relentless legal assault” on Ms Suu Kyi shows how the military has “weaponised the courts to bring politically motivated or farcical charges against opponents”.
Ms Suu Kyi and many members of her party are among more than 16,600 people arrested by the junta since it seized power.
