2nd September, 2022
Myanmar’s deposed former leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been convicted and sentenced to three years in jail with hard labour for electoral fraud.
Co-defendant, Win Myint, the deposed president, was given the same sentence.
She was found guilty of fraud on Friday in the general election of November 2020, in which her National League for Democracy (NLD) easily defeated a party founded by the powerful military and won with a resounding legislative majority.
According to a source familiar with the proceedings, the Nobel laureate has been detained since a coup early in 2021.
Although she has already been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison, she denies all the allegations against her.
The source, who declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the media, said it was the first time hard labour had been applied to Suu Kyi’s sentencing and it was unclear what it would entail.
For more than a year, Suu Kyi has been on trial on multiple charges, ranging from corruption and incitement to leaks of official secrets, for which the combined maximum sentences are more than 190 years.
Her trials have been held behind closed doors in the capital, Naypyitaw, and the junta’s statements on the proceedings have been limited.
A gag order has been imposed on Suu Kyi’s lawyers.
Reuters/NAN