Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to four years in prison for incitement and flouting COVID-19 restrictions. This is the first sentence handed to Suu Kyi since the military seized power in February.
Suu Kyi has been charged with a slew of offences, including official secrets violations, corruption, and election fraud, and if convicted on all counts, she may face decades in prison.
Junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun told AFP Suu Kyi was sentenced to two years in prison on Monday for inciting against the military and another two years for violating a natural disaster statute connected to COVID-19.
He stated that former president Win Myint had been sentenced to four years in prison on the same accusations, but that they had not yet been transported to prison. Suu Kyi has been in detention since military generals took over control of the has been government. Naypyitaw’s former mayor Myo Aung was sentenced to two years for incitement. Charles Santiago, the chair of the group Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights, told the Guardian, the ruling was “a travesty of justice” that demonstrated the junta’s contempt for regional efforts to find a resolution to the country’s crisis.
About 10,600 people, who have been opposing the junta have been arrested since the military took over the government and over 1,303 have been killed in clashes between the protestors and the military forces.
