Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi jailed for three years, along with Australian adviser

Myanmar’s ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been sentenced to another three years in jail along with an Australian adviser to her political party. Suu Kyi was detained back in February 2021 after a military coup took over the government, despite her party winning a democratic election the year before.

Australian economist and adviser to the National League for Democracy, Sean Turnell, was sentenced along with Suu Kyi and three others, under the government’s State Secret Act. Suu Kyi had already been convicted of multiple other charges since the junta’s takeover of the government. One of those charges was alleged corruption.

Turnell was arrested last year under the country’s immigration act, a move that prompted Australian diplomats to lobby Myanmar’s regional neighbours to help with the case. Turnell, 76, was arrested while he was on a phone interview with the BBC.

“I’ve just been detained at the moment, and perhaps charged with something, I don’t know what that would be, could be anything at all of course.”

He pleaded not guilty in August of this year over charges that he breached the country’s colonial-era official secrets act during his secretive trial. The trial was allegedly held in a secretive junta court, in which journalists were not allowed.

Details of Turnell’s alleged offence have not been released, but state television said that he was privy to “secret state financial information,” and was accused of trying to flee the country. Meanwhile, Suu Kyi’s latest jail sentence comes as she will likely see more charges that could see her jailed for more than 150 years.

The current junta staged the coup after stating that the democratic election, which saw Suu Kyi’s political party elected, was full of over 11 million fraudulent votes. But, the military could not give any factual evidence to support their claims.

Since the coup, the country has been in violent turmoil with the junta extending a state of emergency by six more months. The military cited the ongoing conflict in the country as a reason for delaying elections. It previously stated that the country would hold elections and lift the state of emergency by next August. But, that timeline is already past the one-year mark of its original declaration that was made just days after the coup began.

According to a local monitoring group, more than 2,200 people have lost their lives since the coup began. And, another 15,000 have been arrested as the military has continued to crack down on dissent.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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