Aung San Suu Kyi’s prison sentences are increasing. The deposed Burmese leader has been sentenced by a junta court to a further seven years in prison for corruption, with a total of 33 years behind bars in the final part of her flow trial, a court source confirmed to Agence France-Presse on Friday.
The famous 77-year-old opponent, who appeared in “good health” according to this source, could face a life in prison marked by her struggle for democracy. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner has been jailed since the February 1, 2021 military coup that ended a brief period of freedom in this Southeast Asian country with a turbulent history.
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A court in the capital Naypyidaw, exceptionally located in the detention center where Ms. Suu Kyi was held in solitary confinement, on Friday found the former leader guilty of five counts of corruption.
In a helicopter rental case for a minister, she was accused of not following the rules and “damaging the state”. “All her cases are closed, there are no more charges against her,” said a source, who asked not to be identified.
Legal semblance
Corruption, electoral fraud, breaches of state secrets and anti-Covid restrictions… Aung San Suu Kyi has been convicted of multiple offenses since the start of the court case, which began in June 2021. The end of his 18-month trial, which human rights groups have described as a legal sham, opens a new period of insecurity in Burma, with the prospect of 2023 elections promised by the junta in a quest for legitimacy.
The two most recent parliamentary elections, in 2015 and 2020, brought the National League for Democracy party, founded by Aung San Suu Kyi in the late 1980s, to power. The army justified its 2021 coup by claiming it discovered millions of irregular votes during the last ballot , which is considered universally free by international observers.
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The ruling junta’s plan to hold new elections was criticized by the United States but welcomed by Russia, its close ally and arms supplier.
The UN Security Council this month called for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi in its first resolution in decades on the situation in Burma. This call, made in a rare moment of unity, was made possible by the abstention of China and Russia, Naypyidaw’s usual backers, who waived their veto power.
Damaged international image
The junta immediately accused the UN of wanting to “destabilize” the country. Since the coup, the detainee has only been seen a few times in grainy photos taken by state media in an empty courtroom. The Nobel Peace Prize winner could serve part of her sentence under house arrest, experts say.
Aung San Suu Kyi remains a popular figure in Burma, even if her international image has been tarnished by her inability to defend the Rohingya Muslim minority, victims of abuses by the army in 2016 and 2017 – a “genocide” according to Washington – was damaged. Burma plunged into a period of chaos after the coup, with daily violence at the hands of the army and self-formed militias who accuse each other of killing hundreds of civilians.
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According to a local NGO, more than 2,600 people were killed in the crackdown led by the junta. Several human rights groups have accused the Burmese military of carrying out airstrikes on civilians, which constitute war crimes. The army counted 4,000 civilians killed on their side.
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