A Myanmar junta court yesterday sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three years in jail for electoral fraud over 2020 polls, which her party won in a landslide.
Aung San Suu Kyi was “sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with hard labor,” a source with knowledge of the case said, adding that the Nobel laureate, 77, appeared to be in good health.
Detained since a coup last year, Aung San Suu Kyi has been convicted of corruption and a clutch of other charges by a closed junta court, and sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Photo: AFP
Journalists have been barred from proceedings in the military-built capital, Naypyidaw, and her lawyers have been prevented from speaking to reporters.
The military accuses Aung San Suu Kyi’s party of widespread voter fraud during the November 2020 election, won resoundingly by her National League for Democracy (NLD), although international observers said the poll was largely free and fair.
The military has since canceled the result and said that it uncovered more than 11 million instances of voter fraud.
Last month, Burmese Army Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said the military was being “lenient” on Aung San Suu Kyi.
Prosecutors could have taken “more serious actions” against her, the junta leader added.
Myanmar was plunged into crisis following the military’s power grab, with swathes of the country ravaged by fighting and the economy in free fall.
More than 2,200 people have been killed and up to 15,000 arrested in the military’s crackdown on dissent since it seized power, a local monitoring group said.
EX-UK ENVOY SENTENCED
Separately yesterday, the junta jailed a former British envoy and her husband for a year for breaching immigration rules, a diplomatic source told Agence France-Presse.
Former British ambassador to Myanmar Vicky Bowman and her husband, prominent Burmese artist Htein Lin, were sentenced to a year each, a source with knowledge of the case said.
Bowman, who served as envoy from 2002 to 2006, was last month detained for failing to declare she was living at an address different from the one listed on her foreigner’s registration certificate.
Htein Lin was arrested for helping his wife reside at an address different from their registered one in the commercial hub of Yangon.
The couple could have been jailed for up to five years.
Previously, Htein Lin in 1998 was arrested and imprisoned for opposing the rule of a previous junta.
Ties between Myanmar and former colonial ruler Britain have soured since the coup last year, with London imposing several rounds of sanctions on businesses and individuals with ties to the military.
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