Aug San Suu Kyi is Myanmar’s pro democracy leader. He was expelled earlier in the year by a military coup. The ruling junta has sentenced him to four years imprisonment.
Suu Kyi was sentenced to two-years in prison for her incitement towards the military. She also received another two-year sentence for violating Covid catastrophe laws.
Suu Kyi and her government have been convicted for the first time since they were overthrown by generals in Myanmar on February 1, as their ministers tried to delegate key power to the military.
Suu Kyi has been placed under house arrest ever since the coup and is now facing numerous other charges, including violations of the electoral fraud act and official secrets act. If she is found guilty, she could spend the rest of her days in prison.
Aung San Suu Kyi was Myanmar’s ex-pro-democracy leader. The military junta, which ousted her in a coup, sentenced her to four years imprisonment
Win Myint was the former President of the nation who had taken Suu Kyi’s position because laws were designed to stop her reaching power. She was also sentenced on Monday for the same charges.
According to a military spokesperson, “They will face additional charges,” but did not say when or if they will be taken from Naypyidaw’s house arrest to prison.
Her statements to her National League for Democracy party condemning the overthrow of the Generals were the basis for the incitement conviction.
Although the Covid case is related to the election last year, in which NLD won by a wide margin, the specific details of the proceedings are unclear as the government placed a gag order.
Win Myint (the former Myanmar president) was also imprisoned on the same charges for four years
Media outlets and the public media have been informed that the trial is closed.
Suu Kyi’s lawyers are now barred from communicating directly with the media and the general public.
Suu Kyi supporters claim that the allegations are baseless, and were designed to stop her political career. They also intend to tie her up with legal proceedings as the military consolidates its power.
She was expected to be jailed.
Maw Htun Anung, a deputy Minister in an opposition parallel Government, stated that he doesn’t expect any good from the system.
Suu Kyi, according to the junta is receiving due process from an independent court headed by a female judge.
Other senior NLD members have been sentenced to lengthy sentences in recent weeks.
This month, a former chief minister was sentenced at 75 years prison and an aide to Suu Kyi was placed in 20 year imprisonment.
Amnesty International condemned immediately the sentence against Suu Kyi.
“The severe sentences given to Aung San Suu Kyi for these bogus accusations are just the latest evidence of the military’s determination to suppress all opposition and choke freedoms in Myanmar,” said Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty regional director for Campaigns.
In February, Myanmar’s military took control of the country as the government was about to hand power over to the generals. This sparked angry and sometimes bloody protests.
“The farcical, corrupt court decision was part of an awful pattern of arbitrarily imposed punishment since February’s military coup. It has resulted in more than 1,300 deaths and many thousands of arrests.
Richard Horsey, a senior Myanmar advisor to the International Crisis Group, told AFP that the sentences were aimed at retribution as well as a demonstration of military power.
It would not surprise, however, that she was sent to prison. She’ll likely serve this sentence and any subsequent ones at her home or in a ‘guesthouse’.
Myanmar’s military is a major force that has ruled for over a century. It has claimed fraud in the last general election.
International pressure has been applied to the junta for swift restoration of democracy, but it shows no signs of reducing the forces. In the meantime, bloody clashes between anti-coup protesters and the generals are continuing across the country.
Eyewitnesses claimed that three soldiers were injured by ramming their car into peaceful protestors in Yangon’s commercial center.
According to state media, one person sustained severe injuries and eleven were arrested because they protested ‘without permission.
Suu Kyi is the daughter of the heroic hero of Myanmar’s independence. She was held under house arrest for years because she opposed military rule. However, Suu Kyi was released in 2010, and her NLD won a landslide victory at the 2015 elections.
Suu Kyi was the daughter of a former General who spent most of her time in jail or under house-arrest as she tried to retake control of the country.
Although her party was victorious in November 2013, the military claimed that the vote had been rigged, and took power weeks later. At the time, the election commission dismissed military complaints about vote fraud.
Since the coup in Myanmar, the international community condemned violence and Western countries demanded Suu Kyi be released.
Matthew Smith (chief executive at Fortify Rights) said that the sentencing was “part of an extensive and systematic attack upon the civilian population” and called on Suu Kyi to be freed immediately.
ASEAN Parliamentarians of Human Rights claimed that the result of the trial was not misleading.
It stated in a statement that “Since the date of the coup it has been evident that the charges against Aung San Suu Kyi, and the dozens other detained MPs have been nothing but an excuse by the Junta to justify their illegal power grab.”