Yangon, Aug 15 (AFP\/APP):A Myanmar junta court jailed Aung San Suu Kyi for six years for corruption on Monday, a source close to the case said, taking the ousted leader’s prison time to 17 years.<\/p>\n
Suu Kyi, 77, has been detained since the generals toppled her government in a coup on February 1 last year, ending the Southeast Asian country’s brief period of democracy.<\/p>\n
She has since been hit with a series of charges, including violating the official secrets act, corruption and electoral fraud. She faces decades in jail if convicted on all counts.<\/p>\n
Suu Kyi was sentenced to “six years imprisonment under four anti-corruption charges”, said the source, who requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.<\/p>\n
Each charge carried a maximum of 15 years in jail. Suu Kyi was sentenced to three years for each, but three of the sentences would be served concurrently, the source said.<\/p>\n
She appeared in good health and did not make any statement following the sentencing, they added.<\/p>\n
A junta spokesman could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n
The Nobel laureate had already been sentenced to 11 years in jail for corruption, incitement against the military, breaching Covid-19 rules and breaking a telecommunications law.<\/p>\n
Journalists have been barred from attending the court hearings and Suu Kyi’s lawyers have been banned from speaking to the media.<\/p>\n
The United States slammed the latest sentencing as an “affront to justice and the rule of law”.<\/p>\n
“We call on the regime to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and all those unjustly detained, including other democratically elected officials,” a State Department spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the sentencing as “unjust” and called for Suu Kyi’s immediate release.<\/p>\n
The coup sparked widespread protests and unrest, and renewed fighting with established ethnic rebel groups.<\/p>\n
Dozens of “People’s Defence Forces” have also sprung up to fight the junta and have surprised the military with their effectiveness, analysts say.<\/p>\n
According to a local monitoring group, the crackdown has left more than 2,000 civilians dead and seen some 17,000 arrested.<\/p>\n
– ‘Erase the past’ –<\/p>\n
Suu Kyi has been the face of Myanmar’s democratic hopes for more than 30 years, but her earlier 11-year sentence already meant she was likely to miss elections the junta says it plans to hold by next year.<\/p>\n
“Immune from domestic and international outrage, the punishment trials against Suu Kyi and her supporters are designed to erase the democratic past,” independent Myanmar analyst David Mathieson told AFP.<\/p>\n
“Their intent is clear to everyone it seems, everyone but the international community.”<\/p>\n
In June, Suu Kyi was transferred from house arrest to a prison in the capital Naypyidaw, where her trial continues in a courthouse inside the prison compound.<\/p>\n
She remains confined to the jail, with her link to the outside world limited to brief pre-trial meetings with lawyers.<\/p>\n
Many of her political allies have also been arrested since the coup, with one chief minister sentenced to 75 years in jail.<\/p>\n
Last month, the junta stoked renewed international condemnation when it executed Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former lawmaker from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, for offences under anti-terrorism laws.<\/p>\n
Suu Kyi learned of the execution at a pre-trial hearing, a source with knowledge of the matter said, but has yet to speak on the matter.<\/p>\n
The junta says it seized power following massive fraud during 2020 elections in which the NLD trounced a military-backed party.<\/p>\n
International observers said the elections were largely free and fair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yangon, Aug 15 (AFP\/APP):A Myanmar junta court jailed Aung San Suu Kyi for six years for corruption on Monday, a source close to the case said, taking the ousted leader’s prison time to 17 years. Suu Kyi, 77, has been detained since the generals toppled […]<\/p>\n
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