A Burmese military junta court on Monday sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to four years in prison on three counts, in one of the lawsuits against the ousted ruler.
A source told AFP that the 76-year-old leader was found guilty of two counts of alleged smuggling of radio communication devices (walkie-talkies) and another of disobeying health rules linked to the coronavirus.
The walkie-talkie case originated when the military broke into his home on the day of the coup and allegedly found the smuggled equipment.
Today’s sentence adds to those handed down in December, when she was sentenced to four years for incitement and for breaking coronavirus health rules during her election campaign.
The head of the military junta, Min Aung Hlaing, commuted the sentence to two years and said he could serve them under house arrest in the capital Naipyidaw.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the Nobel Peace Prize, called the latter’s conviction a “political verdict”.
“The latest verdict against Aung San Suu Kyi is a political verdict,” Nobel Committee chairman Berit Reiss-Andersen told AFP.
“Aung San Suu Kyi remains the most prominent fighter in the struggle for democracy in Myanmar. The Nobel Committee is deeply concerned about your situation,” he added.
Suu Kyi has been in detention since February 1, when her government was overthrown in a coup that ended the Asian country’s brief democratic experiment.
The coup generated widespread discontent, but security forces quelled the demonstrations with mass arrests and violence that left more than 1,400 civilians dead, according to a local monitoring group.
– Fear tactic –
The December sentence drew international condemnation and reignited street protests.
Ahead of the verdict, human rights researcher Manny Maung said the new convictions would exacerbate national discontent.
“The announcement of his latest conviction resulted in one of the most social media days in Myanmar and angered the public a lot,” he told AFP.
“The military calculates this (Suu Kyi’s lawsuits) as a scare tactic, but it only serves to cause more anger,” he added.
Journalists do not have access to hearings and Suu Kyi’s lawyers are prohibited from speaking to the press.
Under a previous military junta, the civilian leader spent long periods under house arrest at her family’s mansion in Yangoon, Myanmar’s largest city.
She is currently confined to an undisclosed location in the capital, and her only contact with the outside world is meetings with her lawyers before court hearings.
In addition to today’s cases, she also faces multiple corruption charges, each of which is punishable by 15 years in prison, and violation of the law on official secrets.
In November, she and 15 other officials, including former President Win Myint, were charged with alleged voter fraud in the 2020 election.
His party, the National League for Democracy (LND), won the elections.
Since the coup, several of his political allies have been detained and a minister has been sentenced to 75 years in prison, while others remain in hiding.
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