Aung San Suu Kyi receives additional 6-year prison sentence

Deposed Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi received an additional jail term sentence, this time six years for corruption, adding to the 11 years she has already. Suu Kyi was jailed by the military junta that overthrew the government on February 1, 2021, as she tried to introduce democracy.

She was sentenced previously to 11 years in jail for breaking Covid-19 restrictions as well as telecommunication laws, and for corruption and incitement against the military. She is also being prosecuted for various charges of electoral fraud and violating the Official Secrets Act which could imprison her for dozens of years.

Suu Kyi was sentenced to three years for each of the four current corruption charges, 20% of the maximum sentence of 15 years according to an anonymous source. But her jail term is only six years for all four after the courts declared she could serve three of the sentences concurrently.

Now facing 17 confirmed years in jail, the Nobel laureate has received support from leadership around the world who decried the ruling as unjust. The European Union foreign policy chief called for her immediate release while a US State Department spokesperson condemned the action as an affront to justice.

“We call on the regime to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and all those unjustly detained, including other democratically elected officials.”

The long prison sentence means that Suu Kyi isn’t eligible to be a candidate should the military junta keep its promise of elections next year, dimming hopes for a democratic future that she has represented for decades. Many in Myanmar recognise this as a major motivation behind the long sentence.

Human Rights Watch has condemned the sentence, along with recent executions and the entire military crackdown that has seen 17,000 arrests and over 2,000 deaths. The group monitoring the junta’s action locally railed against their latest actions.

“The junta’s fabricated trials, torture of detainees, and execution of activists highlight its broader disregard for the lives of Myanmar’s people.”

The recent execution of other dissidents, including a member of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, which Suu Kyi learned about only in her pre-trial hearing. The hearings, and her meetings before court dates with her lawyers, are the only contact she has with the outside world at this point.

SOURCE: The Phuket News