Former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced by a court in the Asian country, ruled by a military junta, to five years in prison for corruption on Wednesday.
According to Reuters, Suu Kyi, 76, was accused of having accepted bribes from Phyo Min Thein, former chief minister of Yangon, the country’s largest city, paid in gold and cash.
The former leader, who was ousted in a military coup last year, has already been sentenced to six years in prison in other cases and faces another 10 corruption charges. In all, the sentences can add up to more than one hundred years in prison if she is convicted in all cases.
Suu Kyi became world-renowned after spending 15 years under house arrest for leading a non-violent struggle for democracy in Myanmar. For this, she received the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
However, after winning elections and becoming the country’s leader in 2016, his image was tarnished by accusations of having covered up and even defended human rights violations in Myanmar carried out by the military – such as the repression of the Rohingya Muslim minority, classified as genocide by the UN.
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